


Deadfall

by HPFandom_archivist



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Action/Adventure, Angst, Drama, Explicit Language, F/M, Humor, Multi, Mystery, Out of Character, Parody, Romance, Sexual Content, Suspense, Tragedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-07-09
Updated: 2007-07-08
Packaged: 2018-09-30 11:38:08
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 25
Words: 49,256
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10162271
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HPFandom_archivist/pseuds/HPFandom_archivist
Summary: Draco and Hermione trapped together. A Dark Lord who will stop at nothing to possess a secret power one of them has. A former Profesor who must protect them at all costs. Nominated a 'He Had it Coming' and 'The Dramione Awards' Draco/Hermione centric





	1. n/a

**Author's Note:**

> Note from SeparatriX, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [HP Fandom](http://fanlore.org/wiki/HP_Fandom_\(archive\)), which was closed for health and financial reasons. To preserve the archive, I began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in August 2016. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [HP Fandom collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/hpfandom/profile).

Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling, not me. 

No one had seen Draco Malfoy since he fled with Severus Snape. Many wondered what had become of him. Some worried about him, some could care less. The three friends who sat around the table, belonged to the group who worried about him. One of them worried a great deal more than the others knew. 

"I hope Voldemort isn't making him do all sorts of crazy shit," Ron said. "I mean, I still hate the bastard, but now I feel sorry for him as well." 

"I wish there was some way that we could find him and help him!" Hermione said, slamming her drink down on the table. "I just hope he's still alive!" 

Harry looked at her curiously. "Why are you so determined to rescue him?" He leaned across the table. "Is there something your not telling us? Something about how you feel towards him?" 

Hermione frowned. "What exactly are you insinuating?" 

"For the last two months, you've been acting like a mad woman. Every spare minute you have is spent looking for him. I just think we should know the real reason that this search for him has become your top priority," Harry said, looking over at Ron. "Don't you think she acting like an obsessed crazy person?" 

Ron took a sip of his butterbeer, paused as if gathering his thoughts and said, "Hermione, you have been a tad bit..." 

"Fine! Agree with Harry!" Hermione said, angrily. "Malfoy is innocent! He was being forced to murder Dumbledore! He's probably being forced to do all sorts of unthinkable things this very minute! How can you just sit there and not want to help him?" 

"But..." 

"Just shut up Ron! You're busy helping the Order to find Ollivander and Fortescue. Harry is busy finding Horcruxes and Ginny is... not very good company right now. Where does that leave me? With nothing to do! Let me look for Malfoy, it gives me something to occupy my time!" 

"Jeez! Calm down!" Ron said, rolling his eyes. 

"How can I calm down when you both are accusing me of... of having more than friendly feelings towards Malfoy?" 

Harry took Hermione hand and squeezed it. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't of said anything. Of course you don't have feelings for him. Forgive me for asking." 

"Your forgiven. Now please excuse me, I think I have a lead on where he might be." 

"You make sure you contact Headquarters if you find out anything!" Ron said. "You are not to approach him alone, understand?" 

Hermione laughed. "I understand. Little ole me could never defend herself against a vicious ferett." 

"It's not a joking matter, Hermione. Malfoy is desperate and there is no telling what he might do." Harry said warningly. "Please be careful, won't you?" 

"I'll be fine! Stop worrying!" she said and walked out of the kitchen. 

"Denial is a horrible thing!" Ron said, finishing his butterbeer. 

Harry nodded his head in agreement. 

Hermione ran up the stairs to her room and headed for the giant mound of papers that were stacked on her desk. She picked up a blue folder and opened it. A smile lit up her face. "I've found you this time, Malfoy!" 

Someone had been sending her information. Most of it turned out to be rubbish, but some of it was legitimate. The most recent papers included a map of a wooded area, which she pulled out and glanced over. 

Hermione had tried numerous times to fly over the highlighted area on the map. Every time she got near, her broom would go crazy and she always ended up calling it quits. This time however, she decided to go on foot. "I'll find a way to get through that barrier!" she said, shutting the folder with a snap. She put on her cloak, tucked the folder under her arm and ran down the stairs. She was in such a hurry that she failed to notice when the map slipped out. The wind from the open door swept it under the hall table, where it lay, soon to be covered with mouse turds and dust bunnies. 

She ran down the block and turned into a deserted alley, where she disappeared with a pop. When she opened her eyes, she was standing on the edge of a vast forest. 

"Here goes nothing," she said and stepped into the darkness. After walking for awhile, the trees became so dense that it seemed to be night. She took out her wand and said, "Lumos!" The wand lit up and she continued on. 

After about three hours of stepping over fallen trees and getting slapped in the face by branches, she finally came to the barrier. "It's so strange!" she said, walking up to it and poking it with her finger. "It's clearly strong magic!" If she tilted her head and squinted, she could see the barrier. It was like a giant bubble, with colors of the lightest pink and purple swirling around the surface. "How very odd!" 

She picked up a stick and threw it, it bounced off the bubble and landed on the ground at her feet. "Hmm," she said thoughtfully. She experimented; pitching rocks, acorns and finally her shoe, nothing went through the barrier. "What the bloody hell am I supposed to do!?!" she screamed. "Blast it to smithereens?" She pointed her wand at it and it suddenly a small hole appeared. 

"What the..." she said, taking a step forward to get a good look. She put the tip of her wand into the hole and pulled down. There was a ripping noise as the opening became wider. Hermione looked around and after taking a deep breath, she plunged through to the other side. 

She turned around to give the bubble one last look and watched as the opening shrank until it was gone. "Hopefully I can get back through." she said to herself. Tearing her eyes away from the shimmering surface of the barrier, she started down a path that was overgrown with ferns and some kind of giant weed. 

Hermione walked on for another hour when suddenly, out of the twilight loomed a house. It was a huge rundown creepy looking house, but it made her heart leap. "He's here! I can feel it!" 

She made her way quietly to the side of the building, where the white paint was peeling off in huge strips. Standing on tiptoe, she took the sleeve of her cloak and wiped the grime off the window. Peering in, she saw absolutely nothing. Just an empty room. "Damn!" she muttered and moved on to the next window. 

Here she had more luck. It was the kitchen. Here, in this room, there were signs of life. The fireplace was roaring and the table was set with a service for one. As she watched, a House Elf shuffled into view and filled the goblet with red wine. "Dinner is ready sir!" it said in a squeaky voice. 

Hermione watched with baited breath as Draco Malfoy entered the room and took a seat at the table. "It's about bloody time! Where are the candles? You know I like to eat by candlelight!" The Elf bustled from the room and came back carrying a huge candelabra. 

Draco took a sip of his wine and frowned as the Elf snapped his fingers and lit the candles. "What is this?" Draco asked, sniffing his food. "Did you spit in this?" Draco threw the plate at the Elf, who started to cry. 

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Still a jerk!" she said under her breath. 

"Sir can make his own food! I quits!" the Elf said and disappeared into thin air. 

"Oh yeah? I don't need you anyway, you good for nothing little shit!" 

Hermione had seen enough. She walked back to the front of the ramshackle house and just looked at it. "Why the fudge is Malfoy living in a dump in the middle of nowhere?" She shook her head as she studied the poor state of the house. All the paint was peeling, the red shutters where either missing or hanging on for dear life by a nail. The front porch was leaning and looked as though it was going to topple over at any time. There was a fountain in the front yard that spewed some foul stinky brown substance, and the whole yard was overgrown with weeds and worst of all, a rotting carcass of a dog was putrefying out in the open, next to a falling down shed. 

"I need to get him out of this god forsaken hell hole!" she said, and took a tentative step onto the porch. The boards were soft and threatened to break, sending her falling through the floor and into that dark bug filled place that never saw the light of day. Hermione had always been afraid of the space under her porch back home and avoided it at all costs. She knew that if the boards were to break and send her tumbling into that abyss, she would scream and scream until she turned stark raving mad. 

Her steps were light and she reached the door without incident. She put her hand up to knock, but changed her mind and decided to try the doorknob. Surprisingly, the door was unlocked and she pushed it opened. 

Draco drained his glass of wine and began to pour another. His actions were halted however, by the sound of the front door opening. "What the fu..." he said, standing up and rushing into the front room. "Granger! Don't let the door shut!" Draco ran towards her and actually pushed her out of the way, trying to get to the door before it closed. Too late. It shut with a bang. Draco lost control and started to punch and kick the wood, yelling like a crazy person. 

Hermione stared at him in fear and confusion. "Calm down, Malfoy! I'm here to rescue you!" 

Draco slowly turned and glared at her. "Oh yeah? Well who's going to rescue you?" 

Hermione bit her lip. "What are you talking about?" 

"You let the door close!" 

"So?" 

Draco ran his hand through his hair, willing himself not to attack Hermione and tear her limb from limb. "I am a prisoner here. When you let the door shut, it locked us in. There is no way out, only a way in." 

Hermione blanched. "What do you mean, no way out? What about the windows?" 

"This house, if you can call it that, is surrounded by spells and charms, making it impossible to escape! Believe me, I've tried!" Draco stood up and smirked at her. "It looks like me and you are going to be shacking up, Granger!"


	2. 2

  
Author's notes: Frustration at being trapped with Draco sends Hermione over the edge.  


* * *

Hermione's mind was whirling. "Stuck here with you?" she asked with wide eyes. "No way!" She ran for the door and started pulling the handle. When it didn't budge, she went to the nearest window. "This can't be happening!" she moaned as she tried with all her might to open the sash. 

Draco watched in bored indifference as Hermione proceeded to check every possible way out. He knew she was wasting her time and energy. When he first realized he was a captive, he reacted precisley in the same way, running around like a moron, talking to himself, refusing to believe there was no escape. 

"Granger." 

Hermione paused in the act of reaching her hand up the chimney flue. "What?" 

"Give it up! It's a lost cause." 

"There just has to be a way out! I refuse to spend the rest of my days locked in a rickety dilapidated shack with a boy who has repeatedly schemed to kill me!" 

"I never schemed to kill you! Maybe injure you or humiliate you, but never kill you!" Draco leaned against the mantle and folded his arm over his chest. "I'm a lover, not a killer." 

Hermione stood up, brushed the soot from her hands and said in a haughty voice, "I WILL find a way out, mark my words!" She gave him a sickly sweet smile. "And as for you being a lover, I've had better!" 

Draco narrowed his eyes. "Yeah right! I know that what happened between us last year was your first and only time." He leaned in close to her, so she could feel his breath on her face. "I bet that you lie in your bed every night, fingering yourself, thinking about what I did to you." 

Hermione was suddenly hot and wanted to run from the room, not because she was afraid of him, but because what he said was true. "I..." 

"Do you think about my kisses? My tongue sliding over your nipples? Do you moan as you remember my fingers sliding in and out of your..." 

"Shut up!" 

Draco chuckled. "Thought so!" 

"How is it that you remember such small details, huh? Seems to me that you're the one who dwells on that disgusting... that horrible... that completely..." 

"Hot, wild and mind blowing night of sex?" He smiled. "So what if I do?" 

"I wish I could rip that memory from your mind! I cringe every time you look at me because I know that you're reliving every sordid fragment of that stupid night!" 

He wiggled his eyebrows. "If I close my eyes right now, I can picture your naked body withering under mine as I slam into you. I can visualize the way your breasts jiggled with every thrust, I can hear you..." 

Hermione slapped him across the face. The sound echoed off the bare walls. "God I hate you!" 

Draco rubbed his cheek. "You can lie to yourself all you want, Granger. But we both know why you came to rescue me." 

"And why is that, smartass?" 

"Because you fell in love with me that night. Because while I've been missing, you've been crying and worrying whether I was alive or dead." 

Hermione just looked at him. "You are delusional, Malfoy! No one could ever really love you. I came because no one else gave a damn whether you were dead or not. I felt it was my duty as a caring human being to save you." 

"I don't need your help, Mudblood." 

"So we're back to name calling are we?" Hermione sat on the broken dust covered sofa. "I thought we had grown out of that, ferret?" 

"Stop calling me that!" he said, taking a seat next to her. 

"Stop calling me Mudblood and I will." 

"I can't make any promises, but I'll try." 

"That's all I wanted to hear." Hermione twirled her wand around her fingers. Suddenly she jumped up. "What about our wands? We could use them to get out!" 

"Forget about it. Wands won't work in here." 

Hermione decided to try anyway. She walked over to the door and pointing her wand, said, "Alohamora!" 

Draco just sniggered. "Alohamora! Please!" 

Hermione ignored him. "Reducto!" Nothing happened. She tried every spell she could to open the door, but nothing worked. "It's like my wand is not functioning at all!" 

"I TOLD you that wands won't work in here! Why didn't you listen to me?" 

"Maybe I don't trust you. Perhaps this is all some sort of cruel joke you're playing on me," she said, sitting back down. 

"Yeah, Granger. Me and Snape saw you coming in our crystal ball. And we devised an evil plan to make you think that you're trapped here with me for all eternity." 

"So you admit it?" 

"Are you serious?" he asked her in astonishment. "I hate to tell you this, but this is no joke. I wish it was." 

"How did you end up here?" she asked him, taking off her cloak. 

"Damn Granger!" 

"What?" she said, following his line of vision. "You don't like my shirt?" 

"Is that what you call it? You might as well walk around topless! Not that I would mind." He smirked and craned his neck to get a better look down her low cut black top. "I always thought you had stupendous tits!" He licked his lips and reached out his hands to fondle them. 

Hermione slapped his hands away. "Don't touch me!" 

Draco looked crestfallen. "Fine, Granger. There will come a time when you'll be begging me to feel you up. When that time comes, I'll take great pleasure in banging your brains out. I've gone this long without some pussy, I can suffer a little longer I suppose." He leaned in and whispered in her ear. "Give in to me, let me pleasure you." 

"Get the hell off me, you idiot! Never will I beg you to 'feel me up' and never EVER again will I let you 'pleasure' me!" 

"We'll see, Granger. We'll see." Draco sat back. "Never say never, you know!" 

Hermione frowned. "I believe you were about to tell me how you got here?" 

"Do you really want me to tell you? It's not a very exciting story, I'd rather talk some more about how you don't desire me." 

"Would you just tell me?" 

"Fine. I'll tell you."


	3. 3

  
Author's notes: Hermione gets teh shock of her life.  


* * *

"After Snape and I apparated, we ended up here, in this lovely palace. He was quite jumpy and kept looking out the windows. I tried to talk to him, but he just told me to shut the hell up and started pacing the floor." 

Draco leaned his head against the back of the sofa and closed his eyes. "I was in complete shock that he had killed Dumbledore. I knew he was more than capable of committing murder, but it still shocked me. He started talking out loud to himself about vows and protection and something about how the best thought out plans still fail. He said something about some prophesy and a baby..." 

He sighed and rolled his head to look at Hermione. "I thought the bloke had gone off the deep end. He finally stopped pacing and as if suddenly remembering that I was in the room, he ran over to me. 'Draco, you must remain here. You'll be safe, I promise. I'll come for you as soon as I can.' I tried to protest, but he flipped out. Poor bastard was totally stressed out and in a killer mood. 'Trust me, Draco. It's importaint that you remain here safely!" 

Hermione interrupted. "Why does he care so much about your safety?" 

"I have no flippin idea. He was insane. He left me here with just the clothes on my back and the rats for company." 

"Where did the House Elf come from?" she asked. "And how are you getting food and things?" 

"I'm getting there Granger. After Snape left, I tried every damn door and window in the place, none would open. I was by now an emotional mess. The combination of what happened on the Tower and the fact that I was alone, not knowing what would happen, made me crack." 

He turned and laid his head in her lap and put his feet up on the arm of the sofa. He thought she would push him off and knock his ass to the floor, but she did nothing of the sort. 

"Comfy?" she asked him, frowning. 

"I be even more comfy if you'd let me turn my head and bury it in your sweet juicy peach." 

Hermione slapped him up side the head, causing his hair to fall into his eyes. He laughed as he smoothed his pale locks back to normal. "You are a filthy little pervert, you know that?" she said, trying to remove his head from her crotch. 

"Come on Granger, it's been so long since I've tasted you. No one will know. Let me run my tongue over your wet folds and savor that sal...AHHH!" he screamed, as she stood up, unceremoniously dumping him onto the dirty floor. 

"Just because I'm stuck here with you, doesn't give you the right to talk to me that way. We had a one night stand Malfoy, that's it, nothing more. I will never sleep with you again, no matter how horny I get. Do you understand?" 

Draco slowly stood up to face her. "I'll talk to you whatever way I want, you bint. There's no one here to stop me. And as for us sleeping together again, it WILL happen. I made you scream that night. No woman can have an orgasm like that and not want more." 

He grabbed her and smashed his lips down on hers, it was violent and angry. To her horror, she started to respond. Her legs grew weak and her heart was pounding. When he released her, she glared at him. "If you ever touch me again, I will kill you, Malfoy!" She ran from the room crying. 

Draco smirked. "Oh yeah! She loves me!" 

Hermione fled up the broken staircase to the second floor, where she ran into the first room she came to and slammed the door behind her. "What the holy hell!?!" She wiped the tears from her eyes so she could see better. 

She thought for a moment that she was hallucinating. "This can't be real!" she said, walking across the plush blue carpet. She paused and removed her shoes and socks and then squished her toes into the soft fibers. "What is going on?" 

Looking around, she was astounded by the contents of the room. Hanging on the windows were thick dark blue velvet drapes, which were closed. There was a fireplace with a richly carved mantle. On the mantle sat some photos in gold frames and Hermione walked across the floor to look at them. "Why are there pictures of me and my friends here, in this house?" she wondered. Picking one up she stared at the images of Ron, Harry and Ginny waving from brooms in the Weasley's backyard. She put in back down and glanced about the room. 

She slowly walked over to the giant four poster bed in the middle of the floor. The wood was very dark and carved into each post was a Goddess from Greek mythology. Here was Aphrodite, the goddess of love. She walked to the other post where the image of Artemis, goddess of the hunt was posing with a bow. The other two were of Athena, goddess of wisdom and Persephone, goddess of the underworld. Hermione thought all were very beautiful. 

Tearing her eyes away from the magnificent bed, she explored the rest of the room. On the cream colored walls, were very attractive paintings, also of a Greek theme. They showed scenes from myths that Hermione knew and loved: the story of Andromeda and the hero Perseus and the myth of Pasiphae, who was made to fall in love with a white bull and gave birth to the Minotaur. But her favorite painting in this room was of Echo. 

Echo was a nymph who fell in love with the beautiful youth, Narcissus. When she failed to attract him, she slowly pined away, leaving only the echo of her voice. Hermione thought this was the most romantic story ever and this painting did the myth justice. It was absolutely gorgeous. 

"Damn Granger!" Draco said, opening the door and looking shocked. "You really go all out don't you?" He walked over to the bed and plopped himself down on the cream and blue colored silk sheets and comforters. "I thought my room was fancy." 

"Your room?" Hermione asked, more than a little befuddled. "Are you telling me that this is MY room?" 

"Duh!" 

"I am so confused! Where did all this stuff come from?" 

"Your mind." 

"Excuse me?" 

"You wanted it, so it appeared." 

Hermione sat down next to Draco, who rolled over onto his side to look at her. "Do you mean to tell me that whatever I want, it'll appear?" 

"Not everything, Granger. I tried to wish for escape plans and they never showed up. Two days ago, I wanted a Muggle gun to shoot myself and that never appeared. I believe it's a selective process." 

"So what have you wished for that HAS turned up?" she asked, looking into his eyes. 

"You."


	4. 4

  
Author's notes: Draco remembers their affair.  


* * *

"Me?" Hermione asked. "Why would you wish for me?" 

"I was lonely." 

"Why wouldn't you want Crabbe or Goyle? Or even Pansy?" 

"Because I would never want to be trapped for all eternity in the company of those two simpletons. They don't have the mental capacity to hold a decent conversation. As for Pansy, I have to admit, I did think of her first, just because she would be willing to do anything I ask of her." 

"You chose me over a girl who literally worships the ground you walk on?" 

Draco smirked. "I think you two have that in common, don't you, Granger?" 

"I do not worship the unholy ground you walk on." 

"You have THE worst case of denial I have ever seen!" he said, rolling his eyes. 

Hermione picked up one of her pillows and beat him about the head with it, until he managed to rip it from her hands. 

"You're going to pay for that!" he said and pushed her onto the bed. He straddled her and held her hands over her head. Hermione tried with all her strength to get him off, but all she was doing was bucking her hips and probably turning him on. She stopped and breathlessly stared at him. 

"What are you going to do, Malfoy?" 

"What ever you want me to do, Granger." 

"I want you to get off me you cow." 

He looked into her eyes and concentrated. 

"What are you doing!" Hermione said as her vision blurred and her mind started spinning with images." 

"I AM a great Legilimens, in case you didn't know." 

He smiled as he saw images of her at home with her mother, cooking. At Hogwarts, sitting under a tree, laughing with her friends. And suddenly, he saw something he wished he didn't. Hermione was making out with Weasley. He was sticking his hand in places that he had no business touching. There was a flash and now he was watching as Hermione lay crying on her bed, the girl Weasley was trying to comfort her. Now he saw what he had wanted to see. Granger was in the bath, obviously masturbating and saying his name. 

He dropped his gaze from her and she shook her head, as if just waking from a dream. 

"How dare you mind rape me!" 

"Mind rape? That's a new one!" 

"What did you see?" she asked, sitting up. 

"You being happy with your friends, and to my horror, you being molested by that freckled freak! How could you let him touch you?" 

"For your information, Malfoy, Ron and I happen to have been going out then, so I see nothing wrong with what we did!" 

"And what exactly did you DO?" 

"What do you think we did?" 

Draco narrowed his eyes at her. He looked very angry and for a fleeting moment, Hermione was sure he was going to hurt her. He got up from the bed, walked out of the room and slammed the door behind him. 

Hermione stared after him, mouth hanging open in disbelief. "What just happened?" 

Draco went straight to his room, where he picked up the stress ball that had appeared on the desk and squeezed it as hard as he could. "Why did I make her come here?" he said, pacing the floor. "I can't handle this. Every time I see her, I just want to rip her clothes off and ravage her!" 

He stopped pacing and took a seat by the fire, that suddenly roared to life. He stared into the flames, comptiplating whether to throw himself in and burn to death. "I have to control myself. In time, she'll come to me. Just be patient." 

Patience was something Draco had very little of. When he wanted something, he expected to have it. He had wanted Hermione for years. She was a challenge and if there was anything Draco liked, it was a challenge. He became increasingly obsessed with the Muggleborn during 5th year. And during the summer before 6th year, he had 'accidentally' bumped into her during her family Holiday. It was two weeks after the term ended and since he had over heard her talking about where she was going, he decided to follow her. 

He ran into her in a Muggle gift shop and proceeded to act as if he was happy to see her. She was too astonished to speak and just blinked at him. He introduced himself to her parents and told them he was a good friend of hers from school. Her parents invited him out to dinner that night and he accepted. He smiled as he remembered Hermione's look of panic when he sat down next to her at the table. It was priceless! After the meal, her parents got up to dance and suggested that they do the same. Hermione frowned as Draco led her to the floor. Their conversation was heated. 

"How dare you impose yourself on my Holiday with my parents! You're the last person I want to see. Why don't you just stop this insane act and go away?" 

"Act? I'm not acting, Granger. I really am this nice. Your parents seem to think I'm a gentleman." 

"That's because I never told them about you! I'm sure if they knew everything you've said and done to me, they'd hate you too." 

Draco dipped her and then spun her around, making her dress flair out wildly around her. "I think I'll do that again, I just might get a good look at your knickers." 

Hermione stepped on his foot, hard. Draco retaliated by pulling her into him and holding her tightly against his body. 

"Get your hand off my ass, Malfoy!" she said, through clenched teeth. 

"No." 

She struggled and all that made him do was hold her even tighter. "I can't breath!" 

"Ah ha! I take your breath away! I knew you liked me," he said, as they slowly swayed to the music. 

"Quite the opposite. I hate you and you make me want to vomit." 

"Well I don't hate you." 

"Yeah right!" she said, putting her arms around his neck. "Why are you here? Why are you stalking me?" 

Draco laughed. "I'm not stalking you. I just happened to run into you and thought it would be nice to get to know you away from Pothead and Weasel." 

"I don't trust you, you're up to something," she said, as the music ended and they went back to the table. 

"I'm not up to anything, Hermione." 

She gave him a double take when he said her first name so nonchalantly. 

Draco got along famously with her parents and Hermione was in total awe of his acting talents. "If I didn't know you any better, I think you were actually a decent human being," she said, as they left the restaurant. 

He smirked and offered to walk her back to her hotel. Hermione's parents were all for it, so she ended up strolling down the street with her worst enemy. 

She stopped in front of a park bench and asked him point blank if now that they were alone, in a deserted park at night, he was going to kill her. 

"I'm not a serial killer, Granger. I plan on walking you back to your hotel, kissing you goodnight and then leaving. I have a meeting tomorrow that I have to plan for." 

"A meeting? What kind of meeting?" she asked, sitting down on the bench. 

"Let's just say that it involves a certain Dark Lord." 

Hermione clutched her heart. "You're not going to take the Dark Mark are you? Because if you do..." 

"Granger, I have to. I have no choice. My father is in Azkaban and the Dark Lord is out for justice. He blames my father for the fiasco at the Ministry. My Aunt Bella has informed me that he has an important job for me to do." 

"Don't go." 

"Don't go? Are you crazy? He'll kill me, or worse, kill my mum. Can't you see that I HAVE to go?" 

"Do you need my help? Is that why you came to find me?" 

Draco sat down. "I'm beyond help. All these years I've talked the talk, now it's time for me to walk the walk." 

"But..." 

That's when he leaned in and kissed her. "Shh...don't say anything more about it. Just help me to have one night of fun before I'm thrown into the hell the Dark Lord has planned for me." 

Hermione's heart was racing and against her better judgment, decided to take him up on his offer. "I can't believe I'm going to say this," she thought. "I'll be glad to have some fun with you, Malfoy." 

"You do know what I mean by 'fun', don't you?" he said, looking directly into her blushing face. 

Hermione lowered her eyes from his piercing gaze. "I know what you mean and..." He grabbed her hand and pulled her up. "Do you want to go back to my room?" she said, biting her bottom lip in embarrassment. 

"Let's go before you change your mind." He held her hand as they walked down the quiet street. He was just as nervous as she was, but being a Malfoy, he knew how to pretend to be cool. 

"Is your room anywhere near your parents'?" he asked, as they entered the lobby. 

"Next door. Why?" 

"That won't do. I'll get a room, so that we can be alone without worrying about your mum and dad walking in." He walked over to the desk and Hermione just stood there, wondering if she was crazy for doing what she was about to do.


	5. 5

  
Author's notes: Hermione recalls in vivid detail the way Draco made her feel.  


* * *

As Draco was sitting by the fire, thinking about that night, Hermione was lying on her bed with her pillow over her head, trying NOT to think about it.   
"How could I have been so stupid? It was so unlike me!" she said into the pillow. "God! If anyone ever found out!" Images began to form in her mind of Harry and Ron's faces if she told them that she let Malfoy make love to her. 

"Make love? That's definitely not what it was!" She pulled the pillow off and blew her frizzy hair out of her face. A picture of Draco on top of her, sweaty and oh so damn sexy, flashed in her mind and she squeezed her eyes shut, trying to make it go away. 

It was no use, it wouldn't go away. She imagined him as he was that night, dressed so nicely and smelling like heaven. She could smell him on her for days after and little did he know that she kept the tie he was wearing that night in her underwear drawer. Sometimes she would take it out and hold it to her nose, inhaling his scent, it was faded now and only a small amount of his cologne lingered on it. She wished she had it right now, so that she could hold it to her face and feel close to him. Suddenly, it was in her hand. She looked at it in shock. "Anything I wish for," she said, softly as the tip of her finger caressed the silk tie. "I wish I could forget about him. Forget about how he made me feel. Forget about how hard it is to see him and pretend that it never happened." She waited but the memories didn't go away. "Selective wishes. How very dumb!" 

Hermione rolled over and let her mind wander. He was so different that night, it was as if he were someone else. She never thought in a million years that he could be so... so... nice. It seemed more like a dream now than anything. Sometimes she found herself wondering if it had really happened at all. Closing her eyes, she let herself remember, something she hadn't done in a long time. 

Draco held the door to the hotel room open and she entered, he followed and closed the door, making sure it was locked. It was dark in the room, he hadn't turned on any lights. He took off his jacket and laid in on the chair. Hermione walked carefully over to the sliding glass door that led to the balcony, she opened it and stepped out into the warm night air. 

He walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her, kissing her hair. "The view is amazing," he said, looking out over the town. They were on the fifteenth floor, Draco having specifically asked for a room with a view. 

"Yes, it is," she said, her heart threatening to jump into her throat. "I... I have to tell you something," she sputtered. 

Draco already knew what she was going to say before she said it. "Yes?" 

"I've never done this before." 

"What? Stand on a balcony in the moonlight with your sworn enemy moments away from having sex for the very first time?" 

Hermione laughed. "Well, yes." 

He spun her around and walked her backwards, so that her bottom hit the railing. "I promise I'll be gentle, the first time anyway." 

"The FIRST time? Are you so arrogant to believe that I'll want to do it more than once?" 

"Granger. May I call you Hermione? Just for tonight?" 

She nodded. 

"Hermione, I'll tell you right now, I am the best lover you're ever going to have. I feel sorry for the blokes that come after me because you'll always compare them to me." 

"You...," she started to say, but was cut off by Draco's lips descending on hers. She was startled at first, but as he caressed her tongue with his, she relaxed and kissed him back. 

He slid the strap of her black dress down and releasing her lips, he softly kissed her bare shoulder. She put her head back and put her hands on the railing of the balcony, gripping it tightly as Draco kissed lower and lower, sliding her dress off as he went. When he licked her bellybutton, she actually shivered and laughed a little. He glanced up at her and gave her a devilish smile. "Polka dot knickers? How festive of you!" he said and ran his tongue over the fabric covering her most private part. "Mmm. They taste as good as they look." 

Hermione was breathing hard and could barely stand as he licked his way back up her trembling body. She grabbed him by the expensive grey tie he was wearing and pulled him into a searing passionate kiss. Her hands were shaking as she untied his tie and then started on the buttons of his shirt. 

He broke the kiss and rested his forehead on hers. He looked into her frightened but lustfilled eyes as she pulled his shirt out of his pants and then fumbled with his belt. "Sorry," she said impatiently. 

"Here, let me help." He unbuckled his belt and undid his pants. He then took her hand and placed in on his throbbing erection. She jumped a little, not expecting it to be quite as large as it was. "I don't know what to do." 

He placed his hand on top of hers and slid them inside his pants. Hermione's pulse began to race as her hand came in contact with his bare flesh. She wrapped her fingers around it and with his help, she found a rhythm that made him moan with pleasure. 

Taking his hand off hers, he reached around and removed her bra with one swift expert movement. He was coming close to exploding and pulled her hand away. 

"Something wrong?" she asked in confusion. 

"No. It just felt too good." She still looked confused. "I was going to cum in your hand and I didn't think you'd enjoy it." 

Hermione put a loose strand of hair behind her ear and cocked her head to the side. "Maybe I would have liked it. Maybe when you started to cum, I was going to put my mouth on you and suck and lick it all off." 

Draco's eyes bugged out of his head. "What?" 

Hermione smiled. "Maybe next time?" She leaned back on the railing, the moonlight gleaming off of her luscious tits, making Draco crazy. She licked her lips suggestively. 

"Are you certain you've never done this before?" 

"Why? Am I doing a good job?" 

"A very good job... so far. You still have a lot to learn though." He grabbed her by the elastic waistband of her knickers and pulled her to him. The pleasure that Hermione felt when he slowly slid his hand into her panties and worked his magic was life altering. She had never known that anything could feel so good. He took out his wand and made her extremely wet knickers disappear. She hardly noticed. 

He leaned her back over the balcony as far as she could go without falling. As his fingers pumped inside her, his mouth sucked on her hard nipples. when she started to shake and moan, he increased his pace, ramming his fingers into her relentlessly. 

"Oh My god! Stop!" she screamed, trying to remove his hand. She cried out as her orgasm shook her body from head to toe. She was dizzy and her legs felt wobbly. "That was amazing," she said, pulling herself back up and letting the blood rush back into her head. 

"If you think that was amazing, just wait until I get you back inside." 

On the balcony next to them, the sliding glass door opened and a huge fat man came out. "Yes please take her inside, I'm trying to get some effing sleep! Damn horny kids! Go boff each other in the back of your car like normal teenagers!" 

Hermione looked down and realizing she was naked, ran back into the room. Draco smirked at the rude man and said, "Bet you liked the show lard ass, didn't you? Probably in there stroking your dick weren't you. Although I'd be surprised if you could find it under all those rolls you fat bastard!" 

"Why you little..." 

Draco just laughed as he shut the glass door and pulled the curtains across it, plunging them into total darkness. "Oh little Hermione! Where are you?" he said in a sing song voice. 

A hand reached out of the blackness, grabbed him and threw him onto the bed. "I think I've created a monster!" he said, as Hermione pulled his pants off. 

She climbed on top of him and started to grind into him hard, making him whimper with desire. "Damn Hermione! God that... stop!" He smacked her on the bare ass, the sound like a firecracker. 

"Ow!" she said, grabbing his nipple and twisting it. "That hurt!" 

"Yeah well I don't think my poor nipple will ever be the same," he said, rubbing it. He tangled his other hand in her hair and pulled her head down close to his. "Let's get one thing straight, shall we? I'm in charge of this little sexcapade. You do what I say, when I say." 

"And if I don't?" 

He smiled at her and brought his hand down on her ass so hard that she yelped. "You'll get that. Understand?" 

Hermione was feeling a sensation that she had heard about, but never experienced. Once, she had heard some older girls talking about being spanked and how it made them so hot that they could barely control themselves. She scoffed at it, telling herself that they were loony. There was no way that a man smacking your bare bum could ever be a turn on. 

"Apparently, I was wrong," she said to her self. When his hand bounced off her ass, it sent sensual vibrations flowing to the ever growing hot spot between her legs. She wanted him to do it again, but how to make him? She smiled down at him. "So if I do this," she said, sliding down his body and slowly licking his erection. His hips jumped off the mattress. "You'll punish me because I did it without your permission?" 

Quick as a flash, he sat up and threw her over his lap, her ass was all exposed and when he cracked her a good one, she moaned and lifted it higher. After a few more smacks, her ass was numb and her juices were puddling underneath her. 

Draco rolled her over and licked her clean while she twisted on the bed, almost screaming as another orgasm racked her body. He didn't even give her time to recover as he flung her long tan legs over his shoulders and ploughed into her. This time she did scream, as her viginity was taken so roughly. He said calm and soothing things in her ear and kissed her everywhere he could. Soon she was meeting his every thrust with pleasure and when he finally exploded inside her, they both collapsed, sweaty and still wanting more. 

They talked into the night, discussing how to keep their little trist a secret. He told her that someday maybe things would be different, but for now, this was all they had. She was going to fight for the good side, he was certainly going to his death. If he was lucky, maybe somehow, he would come out alive and everything would be all right. He also told her that under no circumstances was she to contact him in any way. "I'm just afraid that He Who Must Not Be Named will find out about us and use you to somehow make me do his bidding." 

Hermione begged him not to take the Dark Mark, but he told her there was no talking him out of it. "Hopefully, I'll see you again. Remember, you're the only one who knows that I have a mission, please don't say anything, especially to Potter." 

"Why? If you would just let me tell Dumbledore, I'm sure he could help you!" She was getting annoyed with him. "How can you let your fear for this so called 'Dark Lord' run your life? We can protect you, just let me help!" 

Draco got out of the bed, and said to her while getting dressed. "This discussion is over, Granger. I won't put you in harms way. I have to do what I have to do." He leaned over and kissed her gently on the lips. "Thank you for giving me the most special night of my life. You helped me more than you'll ever know." He picked up his shoes and disapparated from the room, leaving Hermione alone, confused and most of all, in love.


	6. 6

  
Author's notes: Draco makes a wish.  


* * *

"Granger! Open the damn door right now!" Draco yelled. 

"Just go away, Malfoy. Leave me alone!" 

"Why are you crying?" 

"None of your business!" Hermione said, sniffling. 

"Are you bawling because I'm mad at you?" He said, leaning on the wood. "Because if you are, good." 

She didn't answer. "You deserve every ounce of anger I've given you! How dare you go out with Weasley? How dare you let him touch you!" 

Suddenly a piece of duct tape appeared over Draco's mouth. He ripped it off. "OW! God damn it!" he said, eyes tearing up in pain. "What the hell was that for?" 

No answer. Draco started to beat on the door. "You let me in Granger!" Hermione heard him try to kick the door in, fall on the floor and then stomp off to his room next door. 

Hermione got off her bed and walked over to the painting of Echo. It was a really beautiful painting, very life like. Narcissus was bent over, looking at his own reflection in a pool of water. Echo stood half concealed by a tree, watching him with such love and anguish, that it was heartbreaking. 

To Hermione's utter amazement, on the wall next to the painting, a door abruptly popped up. Draco strolled through it, looking quite murderous. She had no time to react, he pushed her up against the painting, and got close to her face. 

"The next time I ask you to open the damn door, you better do it!" 

Hermione slid out from under his arms, moved behind him swiftly and elbowed him in the back, knocking him into the painting, it fell off the wall and the glass shattered. "Don't you EVER tell me what to do again!" Hermione's brown eyes crackled with anger. "You are not my Master and I'm not your slave!" 

"Oh yeah?" Draco said, standing up and wishing that Hermione had on a Harem costume. "You sure look like a slave to me!" he said, laughing. 

"What the hell?" she said, tearing the pink veil from her face. "I'm going to kill you!" She swung at him, he ducked and ran for his room. He almost made it, except for the fact that Hermione wished for a toy train to land in his path. He didn't see it in time and went sprawling, landing with a thud on his hard wood floor. 

Hermione was above him in a flash, looking very alluring in her scarves and bells. Draco reached out and grabbed her slipper covered foot, sending her crashing down on top of him. 

"Let me go you bastard!" she screamed. "I hate you! I HATE YOU!" she said, slapping and punching every part of him she could get to. "I hate you!" Draco managed to get a grip on her wrists and he rolled her over, pinning her to the floor beneath him. "Calm down!" he said, in a panic. 

She tried to kick at him, and to get her wrists loose. "I hate you!" she said over and over, until finally she went limp and started to cry. 

Draco was totally at a loss. He had never in his life been witness to a scene like the one he was just part of. "What do I do?" he asked himself, looking around like someone was suddenly going to appear and make everything better. "Do I slap her? Do I throw water on her? Do I just get up and leave her alone?" He decided to do nothing. He sat on the cold, hard floor, still holding her wrists, and listened to her cry. After a bit, when he thought that she was no longer violent, he released her. She rolled over onto her side and curled up in the fetal position, still crying. 

He had had enough. "You are over reacting, Granger. There is no need to cry. It's unnecessary and not to mention, annoying. Now clean your self up!" 

Hermione slowly sat up, a box of tissues turned up in her lap. "Thanks." she said, taking one out and wiping her eyes. "I must look awful!" 

"Yes. Yes you do." 

Hermione gave him a dirty look. "How very honest of you!" 

He smirked. "Well look at yourself!" He wished a mirror into her hand. "I told you that you were a mess!" 

Hermione glanced in the glass, wiped her runny nose and then looked at her surroundings. Draco's room was not nearly as decorated as hers. In fact, it was a little plain. Nice and comfortable, but still plain. One thing his room had that hers did not have was books. Almost every inch of wall was covered in thick volumes. There was a huge fireplace and next to it was a very cozy looking leather recliner. 

She stood up and slowly made her way over to the wall closest to the door. "Shakespeare?" she asked him. "There are a lot of classics here. I didn't know you liked to read so much." 

"There's a lot you don't know about me." He walked over to her side. "I was shocked that there were no books in your room, Granger. Why is that?" 

Her eyebrows came together as she thought about it. "I'm really not sure. 

"I know why." 

"You do?" she said, surprised. 

"It's because I wanted the only books in the house to be in my room. I wanted you to have to come to my room if you wanted something to read. These were not here before you came." 

"This was going to be a ploy to get me into your room?" Hermione's anger was flaring up again. "Why do you think you have to trick me to get me to come to your room? Maybe I would have come if you just asked me. Did that ever occur to you?" 

"No." 

"Of course not." She rolled her eyes and walked back to her room. Draco followed her. "Look at my painting!" she said, brushing away the broken glass. 

"Here, let me fix it," he said, closing his eyes and concentrating. Immediately the frame was restored. "Good as new." 

She took it and hung it up. Taking a few steps back, she admired it. "Isn't it beautiful?" 

Draco tried to see what Hermione did, but he had never been one to appreciate art work. "I guess so." He stood there, feeling like an idiot, pretending to care about some stupid paint job by a dead guy, just so he could be next to her. 

"Are you going to tell me why you were crying?" he asked. 

"I was crying because you're mean." 

"What? That is the dumbest thing I ever heard. I'm always mean to you, you should be used to it by now!" 

"That's true." Hermione tore her eyes away from Echo and looked sadly at Draco. "Even after what happened last summer, you were still horrible to me." 

"How was I supposed to act?" he said. "We agreed that it was for the best to act they same way we did before... before we..." 

"Had sex?" 

Draco frowned. "Is that what it was, Granger?" 

"I don't know what it was for you, but it was something more that just sex for me." 

"It was?" he asked softly. "If it meant more to you, than WHY did you date Weasley? How could you have hurt me like that?" 

"Hurt you?" Hermione was flabbergasted. "You didn't have one kind word to say to me last year. Hell, even when I saw you in Madam Malkin's, you insulted me and acted like you hated me and that was only a few weeks after we were together! What did you want me to do? Pine away for you? Die depressed and longing for your love?" 

"Yes Hermione! I wanted you to grieve for me, to lie in your bed day after day, hoping that I'd make love to you again! To live out your life sad and lonely, finally dying while still longing for my touch! Just like the pathetic bint in this absurd painting your always looking at!" 

"I was supposed to remain faithful in a nonexistent relationship? Remain faithful to you when I had no idea how you felt about me? Maybe if I had gotten one look from you, one nice word, one smile, I would have." 

Hermione watched him, watched the way he seemed to struggle with what he was about to say. She loved this man, this broken creature who she doubted had the capacity to ever really love another. 

"I... I know how stupid I sound. How could I have expected you to know how much I cared for you? I had so many things going on last year, I needed you, wanted you, but I also had to protect you." 

Hermione walked over to him and put her arms around him. "Last year was awful, for everyone. I won't tell you I agreed with what you did. I understand why you did it and I forgive you. Harry and Ron have forgiven you. In fact, they're worried about you too." 

Draco raised his eyebrow in disbelief. "Potter and Weasley. Worried about me?" 

"Yes." Hermione smiled up at him. "Not as worried as I was, but they are extremely upset at the thought of Voldemort making you do horrible things under threat of killing your mum." 

"I don't think they have to worry. I'm locked in this house and I'm pretty sure the Dark Lord doesn't know how to find me." 

"Let's hope so. That's all we need, is for him to show up before we find a way out of here." Hermione stepped back and held her arms out. "Now if you don't mind, I'd like to were something more appropriate." 

"Like this?" Draco said, and wished her naked.


	7. 7

  
Author's notes: Draco gets a cooking lesson and takes a fall.  


* * *

"Malfoy!" Hermione screeched, trying to cover up her naked parts and failing miserably. "That's not funny!" 

Draco was looking at her, barely containing his desire. "No not a bit funny. Dead sexy, but not funny." He licked his lips, thinking about throwing her to the floor and screwing her so hard that she'd have carpet burns on her ass for weeks. 

"Stop looking at me like that!" she said, making a blindfold appear over his eyes. 

He ripped it off. "That was a good try, Granger," he said slowly walking towards her. Her legs hit the bed behind her and she lost her balance, falling onto the mattress. He jumped on her, making her whimper. 

"W...what are you doing?" she asked, eyes wide with fear. 

"Kissing you," he said, leaning in and touching his soft burning lips to hers. It was gentle but still full of passion. She brought her hands up to his head and pulled him in, closing her eyes and deepening the kiss. He ran his hands down her smooth stomach, making her hot skin break out in goosebumps. "God I want you," he whispered in her ear, while sliding his fingers in between her legs. 

Hermione felt dizzy and disoriented, but most of all, she felt desire. Desire for his touch, his kiss, his body melting into hers. "Oh!" she moaned as his fingers slowly entered her. He licked a trail from her neck down over her right nipple and then gently blew on it, driving her crazy. His rhythm picked up as she rocked her hips, riding the waves of a toe-curling orgasm. She opened her eyes, expecting to see him there, but he wasn't 

Hermione sat up fast and looked around. There he was, standing by the painting, watching her. "What the hell was that?" she said, clutching the sheet around her. She could still feel him touching her. "Malfoy, what just happened? How did you do that without even touching me?" 

He seemed to come out of a daze when he heard her speak. "I don't know. One minute, I was wishing I could take you on the floor and the next minute, I'm watching you on the bed. It was weird. It was like I was standing here, but also there with you, touching you, kissing you." He seemed totally perplexed and a little bit frightened. He looked at her, opened his mouth to say something, but turned and went through the doorway to his room. The door closed after him and then disappeared. 

Hermione spent a restless first night tossing and turning as the wind howled outside. A huge thunderstorm started as the dawn broke and Hermione got out of bed, put on her pink robe and went to the window. Looking out, she was struck dumb. There was torretional rain falling on everything but the house and the yard around it. "What the hell?" she said out loud. "This place just gets weirder and weirder!" 

She looked around the room for a door to the bathroom. "I need to take a shower, eat some breakfast and then try and figure out how to get out of this mousetrap," she said to herself. Her bathroom was beautifully decorated in light pink and gold, very soothing. She turned on the water, stripped out of her robe, stepped into the shower and sighed as the water ran over her face. 

Draco had not slept at all. He was to afraid to close his eyes, what if what he dreamed became a sudden and frightening reality? He didn't need the Dark Lord popping out of his dreams, or anything else for that matter. It had never happened before, but that didn't mean it wouldn't happen. This house was capable of anything. 

"I'm starving and I need like a pot of coffee," he said heading for the door. As he passed Hermione's room, he could hear her singing in the shower. A smile played across his lips as he descended the rickety staircase and went into the kitchen. 

He sat at the small table, wishing for the House Elf to appear. When it didn't, Draco began to panic. He had tried the second day he was here to wish for a huge steak, to his horror, a raw bloody piece of meat popped up on his plate. Apparently, the house thought he should cook it himself. Yeah right. Malfoy's do not cook their own food. That's when he got the genius idea of wishing for a Elf to cook it for him. "Maybe I was a little to harsh on him yesterday," he thought. 

Hermione came into the kitchen, looking fetching in some tight black jeans and red shirt made of some soft material that hugged her breasts. "No breakfast?" she asked, sitting down across from him. 

"That no good bastard of a House Elf won't come! What are we supposed to eat?" 

"Can't we just wish for some eggs or toast or something?" Hermione said, closing her eyes and concentrating. "That's just friggin great!" she said glaring at the bowl of raw eggs and loaf of wheat bread. "This is so... so...infuriating!" She looked around the kitchen, there was nothing but the table and some cupboards whose doors were hanging off the hinges. "Does the food always show up raw?" 

"Yes. That's why I had the Elf come, so he could cook it." 

"What did he cook it on?" Hermione asked, picking up an egg. 

"He didn't. He just snapped his fingers and the raw food turned into a meal." 

"Well we can't do that and since our wands are useless..." She frowned. "I know!" she said, after thinking for a few seconds. She shut her eyes and suddenly, there in the kitchen, was a stove, a microwave and toaster oven. "We'll just have to cook it ourselves!" 

"Pardon me? Did you say cook it ourselves?" Draco asked in disbelief. "No freakin way!" He leaned back in the chair, crossed his arms and glared at her. 

"Fine! I'll cook my own breakfast. You can stare at me, salivating, while I eat my omelet and toast." 

Hermione pulled a bowl out of thin air and cracked some eggs into it. Draco watched her whisk them frantically. "I think I'll have mushrooms, cheese and ham. Sound good?" she asked Draco, as her ingredients appeared on the table. Draco just sat there, stomach growling, being bull- headed as always. 

Hermione turned the burner on, threw a pat of butter into the pan and poured the eggs in. She hummed merrily as she cooked. The smell was enough to drive Draco to the brink of insanity. He put his elbows on the table and watched her wish a coffee maker and start the coffee, put toast in the toaster and flip the omelet, all at the same time. He had to admit that she was good at multi- tasking. 

The toaster dinged and she slid her omelet onto her plate. After pouring a cup of heavenly smelling coffee, she sat back down and preceded to butter her toast. "Marmalade!" she said, and snatched up the jar that was now next to Draco's elbow. She made a great deal out of every bite she took, making noises and saying things like, "Damn that's good coffee!" 

Draco slammed his fist down on the table. "You are the devil!" he yelled at her. She looked at him and laughed. 

His eyes followed her fork full of cheesy eggs as it made it's way into her mouth. She closed her lips as the fork slid back out and rolled back her eyes as if she were eating Ambrosia. Suddenly the rest of the raw eggs came down on top of her head, covering her in goo. "Agh!" she said, trying to wipe it away as it slid down her face. 

Draco just howled with laughter. That is until he had mushrooms shoved up his nose, shredded cheese in his hair and cubed ham down his pants. "Disgusting!" he said, blowing the fungi out of his nostrils. 

Hermione broke down in a fit of giggles, while Draco shook the cheese from his hair. "Do you want something to eat?" she asked, ridding herself of the egg snot. "I won't cook it, but I'll help you do it yourself." 

He gave up, he was so hungry that his stomach felt like it was eating it's self. "Whatever! Fine!" 

He turned out to be better at cooking than either one of them expected. "There is nothing in this world I'm not good at, you know that?" he asked her, sipping his fourth cup of black coffee. "I'm like a god." 

Hermione choked on her last morsel of toast. "Draco Malfoy, god of culinary delight!" She made the food and dishes go away and then looked around the kitchen. "This room will never do. We need a cheerful place to cook and eat. Do you mind if I make it look better?" 

"No. Knock yourself out!" 

Hermione redid the kitchen in red and white, so it looked like an Italian restaurant. When she was finished, Draco was very impressed. "Nice, Granger. Very nice!" he said, opening the refrigerator and looking at all the food. "Grapes! Bacon!" he searched through every drawer. Opening the freezer, he pulled out a fudgepop. "You thought of everything!" He ripped off the wrapper and went to town. 

"You suck on that like a pro, Malfoy!" 

"Shut up before I shove this up your ass, Granger." 

"That would be very cold." 

"You'd like it wouldn't you? You little sexual deviant! Spanking and getting buggered by an ice cold fudgy confection... your type of sex, right?" Draco smirked as Hermione blushed. 

"How dare you bring that up!" 

"OH! Smack my ass harder, Draco!" he said, mimicking a high pitched girl voice. 

Hermione grabbed the rolling pin out of the kitchen drawer and chased him around the table. "I'm going to hit you in the head with this until what little brains you have come oozing out of your fractured skull!" 

Draco headed for the cellar door. He flung it open and started to run down the stairs. His foot slipped about half way down and he fell. Hermione watched in horror as his body hit every step and then lay unmoving and crumpled on the dirt floor. 

She dropped the rolling pin and flew down the celler stairs, making lights appear as she went. When she reached him, she threw herself on top of him and rolled him over. "Draco! Are you all right?" he just lay there, eyes closed, looking dead. She smacked him across the face, making his head loll back and forth like a rag doll. 

Suddenly he grabbed the back of her head and forced her lips onto his. She pulled away angrily. 

"I can't believe you! I thought you were dead!" 

"Would you be terribly sorry if I were to die, Granger? he asked with a smile. 

"Right now? No!" 

"Help me up, I think I broke my arse." 

Hermione took his hand and helped his to his feet. Her mouth dropped as she noticed exactly what Draco had done to the cellar. 

"You like it?" he asked, very proud. 

Hermione said nothing, just stared in awe. Both turned their heads in the direction of the stairs as the door to the cellar shut with a bang.


	8. 8

  
Author's notes: Draco and Hermione have a snow day.  


* * *

Hermione ran up the stairs, grabbed the doorknob and turned it frantically. "It won't open!" she said, turning to him. 

"Let me try." Draco walked up the steps two at a time and reaching the door, he tried to open it. "Yep. Locked!" 

"That is just friggin great! Now what?" Hermione said, stomping back down the stairs. 

"There is no need to cry about it, Granger! The house, for some reason or other, just wants us to be down here. It'll let us out when it's ready." 

Hermione shook her head. "You talk about this piece of crap house like it's alive or something! Snape did this! He put a spell on it, and now because of him, were stuck down here!" She crossed her arms over her chest and huffed, "I feel like I'm in a roach motel!" 

"A what?" 

"A roach motel? You know... roaches check in but they don't check out?" He looked blankly at her. "Forget it! Never mind!" She walked over to the one side of the cellar where there was a huge table, covered in a complete model of the entire village of Hogsmead. "This is amazing! Did you do this?" 

"I have a lot of time on my hands." 

She looked the small houses and shops, made entirely out of matchsticks and glue. It was a masterpiece of art. He even included the Shrieking Shack. "I've never seen anything so beautiful!" She suddenly spotted a half done model of Hogwarts castle and went over to inspect it. "You did this just from memory?" 

"Quite impressive isn't it?" Draco said proudly. "Next I'm going to make the entire Giza Plateau out of sugar cubes." 

"The Giza Plateau?" 

"Yes, Granger. The Pyramids? The Sphinx?" 

"Out of sugar cubes?" 

"Yes." 

"Exactly how long are you planing to be here?" she asked him, raising her eyebrow. 

Draco shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. I'm in no hurry to leave." He held out his hand and a tiny pine tree appeared in his palm. He placed it next to the match-stick Honeydukes with the other trees. "Watch this!" he said excitedly. 

Hermione smiled as Draco made it snow on the miniature village, covering it in a blanket of pure white. "Oh, Malfoy! It looks so pretty!" 

He smiled back at her. "How about this..." He made the lights in the cellar go out, but for only a second. A small bright moon and a million twinkling stars appeared over the village, making the snow sparkle. Some of the tiny windows of the houses lit up and smoke came from the little chimneys. "I just love winter. I like to go outside around midnight and just stand in the quiet while the snowflakes swirl around me, landing on my eyelashes." 

Hermione looked across the table at him. "Go ahead." 

He gave her a mischievous grin. "If you insist." He closed his eyes and slowly, the dungeon of a cellar became a winter wonderland. All around them, mounds of cold snow rose up. Giant fat flakes fell from the ceiling and the air became colder. 

Hermione looked down and saw that she and Draco now had on winter hats, boots and gloves. "Thanks," she said. "It was getting a little frigid." 

"Cold enough that your nipples could cut butter?" he said with a smirk. 

"Wouldn't you like to know?" she said, throwing a snowball at him. "Maybe later, I'll let you watch as I cut cheese slices with them." 

He laughed and then fell back into the drift and started to make a snow angel. "Come on Granger, have some fun!" 

She plopped down next to him and moved her arms and legs. Draco carefully got up, so he wouldn't ruin his. He looked down and frowned. "Why does my angel have devil horns?" 

"I don't know," she said, laughing. "Because I put them there?" 

"That's it!" he said, and a pile of snow fell from the ceiling and buried her. When she didn't dig herself out, he started to panic. "Granger?" He knelt down, stuck his hand in the snow and pulled her out by the arm. "Are you all right?" he said, brushing the flakes from her face. 

"You're damn lucky I'm all right, Malfoy! You could have killed me with your damn little avalanche!" She sat up, shivering. "It's friggin freezing!" A mug of steaming hot chocolate appeared in her hand. "Ah! That's better!" she said, taking a sip. "Want some?" she asked Draco. 

He took the mug from her hand, added some marshmallows and then took a sip. "It's better than sex!" he said with a sigh. 

Hermione looked at him, rolling her eyes. "I don't believe that!" 

"You're right. Sex is much better. But this comes in a close second." 

Draco handed her cocoa back and glanced around. "Want to see who can build the best snowman? Without using the 'wish power' of course." 

Hermione made the mug disappear and got to her feet. "Okay. Let's do this." 

Half an hour later, Draco stepped back and admired his naked snowwoman. "Your freaking hot!" he said to it. "I'd do you if you were alive!" 

Hermione looked over at him and her mouth gaped. "You are a sick puppy, Malfoy! I thought we were supposed to build a snowMAN?" 

"Snowman, snowwoman... whatever! You're just jealous because she has bigger tits than you!" 

"I am not!" she said, angrily. 

Draco bent over and licked the snowwoman's nipple. "Now are you jealous?" he said, turning his head and smirking at her. He put the nipple in his mouth and Hermione closed her eyes. 

Draco started to flail his arms when he realized that his lips were frozen to the snowwoman's big breast. Hermione fell to the ground, laughing at him. 

He did the only thing he could, he bit the nipple off and freed his mouth. Spitting it out, he said to her, "That was not funny!" He watched her rolling in the snow, giggling like a child and then started to laugh himself. "My poor, poor snowwoman! How is she suppose to suckle our snowbabies with only one nipple?" 

Hermione completely lost it when he said that, and almost peed herself from laughing so hard. "Your better off without her, anyway. She was a little frigid, if you ask me!" 

"Yes. Cold hearted and a bit frosty! Not at all like you, Hermione. You melted my heart, lit a fire of burning passion inside of me that can't be extinguished." 

"What?" she said, suddenly not laughing anymore. He crawled over the snow towards her. 

Draco knelt in front of her, took off his gloves and put his warm hands on her cold cheeks. "I'm going to tell you something." 

Hermione could barely breath. 

"I'm really... a woman!" he said and fell backward into the snow, cackling like a loon. 

Hermione, who was red faced and slightly disappointed, jumped on top of him and shoved snow in his face. He grabbed her arms and flung them away. She glared at him and throwing caution to the wind, leaned down and kissed him, shocking the hell out of him. 

 

Previous Next


	9. 9

  
Author's notes: Hermione has a little fun, Roman style and she also learns about Draco's 'friend'.  


* * *

Draco, for a second was totally astonished. That quickly passed, after all, why should he be surprised that Granger was kissing him? He was irrisistable , wasn't he? 

"Why are you smiling?" she asked, breaking the kiss and looking down at him in frustration. "Something funny?" 

"Only the fact that you kissed me, after screaming at me yesterday that you would never let me touch you, no matter how horny you got." He chuckled. "How fickle you are! You changed your mind very quickly, Granger. Am I to take this little kiss to mean that you want me to make love to you again? Because I will, you know. All you have to do is beg." 

Hermione put her face extremely close to his, she could see his breath in the cold air. "I don't think I have to beg. You want me right now, I can tell," she said, putting her hand on his growing erection and rubbing it through his pants. "In fact, maybe I'll makeYOU beg." She took off her gloves and threw them aside. 

Draco was looking up at her with wide, unblinking eyes. "Don't you dare, Granger!" he said and she unzipped his fly, blew on her hands and then grasped him gently. He tried to move his arms and legs, but found them trapped in ice, unable to move. "You are evil!" he said, as she moved her hand up and down, making his eyes roll back in his head. He was not in control and this bothered him, but as she picked up her rhythm, he seemed to care less that she was in charge. Draco was on the brink of a huge explosion, when Hermione let go. 

"Do you want me to stop?" she asked, running her fingernail up and down his length. "If you want me to stop, just say stop. But if you want me to keep going," she said, licking the tip, making his ass jump off the snow. "Just say please." 

Draco moaned as she slid her wet hot mouth over his leaking, throbbing erection. He was torn between letting this she-devil of a temptress, continue, or turning the tables and forcing her to see, once and for all, that he was the one in control, not her. She released him and looked at him, expectantly. 

"Well? Are you going to say please?" 

"I think not, Granger!" he said and lifted his arms and legs, breaking the melting ice. "You made the mistake of forgetting who you're dealing with. I am a Malfoy, and I do not EVER beg for ANYTHING!" He stood up and towered above her. She was half sitting, half lying down, looking up at him in fear. 

Suddenly, the winter wonderland disappeared, and she found herself tied to a stone column, wearing white flowing see- through gown and nothing underneath. In the semi darkness, Hermione could see that torches lined the walls, and that there were statues of Roman gods and goddesses in the corners. 

"This is not funny, Malfoy!" she yelled. She turned this way and that, trying to free her hands from the gold cord that bound them above her head. She halted in mid twist as Draco walked out of the shadows, dressed as a Roman soldier. He literally took her breath away, he looked so sexy. 

"Well, well well. What do we have here? A slave who needs to learn her place?" He walked up close to her, and Hermione noticed that he was carrying a whip. He cracked it against the stone floor, making her jump. 

"Calm down, just calm down," she said to herself. "He would never dare hurt you." She made herself smile at him. "This is fun and all, Malfoy, but I'm not into roll playing games. Untie me now!" 

He cracked the whip again, close to her bare feet. "How dare you tell me what to do!" He was laughing inside, watching her shake in fear. He stepped forward and ripped the top half of her gown, exposing her breasts. "Nice tits, slave girl!" 

Hermione wanted to cry. Here she was, half naked and tied to a pole and in the hands of Malfoy, who it's seems had lost his mind. She wanted to plead with him to let her go, but her pride wouldn't let her. She lifted her chin and said defiantly "Nice legs, asshole!" 

Draco almost smiled when she said it, but he managed to keep up his act. "You'll pay for that remark. Oh yes, you'll pay a heavy price!" He put his hand to her face, making her cringe in fright. "You're so beautiful. I'm going to have so much fun breaking you!" He kissed her violently, making her lip bleed. 

Hermione couldn't believe the predicament she was in. On one hand, she was scared out of her mind but on the other, she was more turned on than she had ever been in her life. She licked the blood from her mouth, and then spit it on the floor. "You let me go now, and maybe I won't kill you." 

Draco raised his eyebrows at her remark. "Either you're very brave, or very stupid, my girl. No one talks to me like that and gets away with it!" She started to struggle again, twisting and turning, trying to get loose. He cracked the whip and it hit her on the ass in mid-twist. She yelped and then slowly turned to face him. 

Hermione knew now that Draco meant business. He was going to torture her sexually until she begged for him to make love to her. She tried to wish herself free, to make a ton of bricks fall from the ceiling and land on top of him, to change it around, so that he was the one tied up, but nothing was working. 

"It's no use to make wishes now, Hermione. My mind is much stronger than yours and my desires override your feeble attempts at escape." He ripped the rest of the gown from her body and gave her sexy curves an appreciative look. 

She whimpered as he took off his armor, cursing at herself for finding his naked body so desirable. She was almost having an orgasm, just thinking about what he was going to do to her. "I must be strong. I will not beg," she told herself over and over. But as he pressed his body against hers and started to kiss her neck, she knew then and there that she had lost all will to resist him. 

He gently squeezed her breasts, pinching her nipples and sending shock waves of pleasure down her body. She leaned her head against the column, closing her eyes. He licked and sucked his way down her body, making her moan and see stars behind her eyelids. 

Draco reached around and grabbed her ass, as he plunged his tongue into her wetness. She spread her legs apart more to give him better access. She wanted desperately to have the use of her hands so she could take hold of his hair and push his face deeper into her. She started to shake and moan as she felt her release building up inside of her. 

He knew she was going to cum, so he gave her one more lick and then stood up, leaving her unfulfilled and confused. "How's it feel to be teased, Granger?" 

"It feels bloody awful! Now please get over here and finish the job!" she said in a shaky voice. 

"I knew I could make you beg." He lifted her legs up and slammed into her, knocking her up against the column. Her hands were released and she grabbed his head, pulling his mouth to hers in a passionate kiss as she rode him hard and fast. She cried out as pleasure wracked her body, making her tremble. He gave one more thrust and exploded inside of her, kissing her and saying her name over and over. 

"God, that was amazing!" she said, half an hour later, as they sat on the cellar stairs, drinking wine that they had wished. "I don't think I'll be able to walk for days!" 

"If you can't walk, I'll just carry you around, on my dick." 

She slapped him on the arm. "Although that sounds like fun, I think I'll pass." She leaned back on the step and sighed. "About last night, you know, they way you were able to be in two places at once, has that ever happened to you before?" 

"A few times, but this time was weird. It was different, more substantial. Why?" 

"I think I know what's happening to you." 

"You do?" 

Hermione sat up. "Have you ever heard of a 'fetch'?" 

"Like a dog fetching a stick?" 

Hermione laughed. "No, not like that. You see, there are documented cases of people who can make themselves materialize in one place, while being in another. The Victorian people called the manifestation a 'fetch'. Perhaps you have heard it called a Doppleganger?" 

"No I've never heard of that either. You're making it up, right?" he said, sipping his wine. 

Hermione frowned. "No, I'm not making it up. There was this case I read about that concerned a teacher who could throw a 'fetch'. Her students saw it numerous times. She would be writing on the blackboard and at the same time, the students could look out the window and see her walking in the garden!" 

"You think I could do this any time I wanted?" he asked. 

"Try to do it right now." 

Draco sat down his glass and concentrated. Everything went fuzzy, and he felt very sleepy. 

Hermione watched him. It looked like he went into some kind of trance and when she snapped her fingers in front of his face, he didn't even blink. His eyes suddenly came back into focus and he shook his head. 

"See. Nothing happened." 

Just then the cellar door opened and there stood the other Draco, smiling down at them.


	10. 10

  
Author's notes: Hermione gets a visitor in the middle of the night.  


* * *

"Come on. What are you waiting for?" it said. 

Draco looked at Hermione with frightened eyes. "I'm am REALLY creeped out right now!" he said in a whisper. 

"Me to," she said and took his hand. She pulled him up and together they walked slowly up the stairs. 

The other Draco stood at the top, smiling at them. Hermione skirted widely around it, never taking her eyes off it. Draco stopped in front of it and smirked. "Damn I'm a good looking man!" he said. The fetch smirked back at him and then started to fade. "No!" he screamed at it. "Don't go, damn it!" He went to grab it but his hands went right through it. 

Hermione watched as it became transparent and then blinked out of existence. "That was freaky." 

Draco sunk down in the kitchen chair and put his head on the table. "I wish someone could explain this to me." 

Hermione took the seat opposite him. "How old were you when you noticed that you could do this?" 

"I don't know. Five?" he answered, head still on the table. 

"What were the circumstances?" she asked, lifting his head up by his hair. "Were you under stress at the time?" 

He made a shot glass and a bottle of scotch appear on the table. He poured himself a drink with shaking hands and drank it down. "I guess you can say it was stressful. My parents had this huge row and my father actually said he was going to kill her. I was scared out of my mind and went to hide under my bed. I could hear him shouting at her and throwing things. She was crying and begging him to not hurt her." 

Draco went to pour another glass of scotch, but picked up the bottle and took a huge gulp instead. "There I was, under the bed with my eyes shut tight, thinking about how I wish I was strong and brave enough to help her. Then something happened. My mind started spinning and I felt really tired, like I couldn't even lift my head up off the dusty floor. And then I heard my father screaming." 

Hermione leaned forward. "It was the 'other' you, wasn't it?" 

Draco nodded. "It was attacking him. Now I could hear my mum yelling for me to stop. I had no idea why she would be telling me to stop. Stop what? I was hiding under the bed, doing nothing. Somehow I got the courage to crawl out and I ran to the drawing room." 

"What did you see?" 

"I saw myself, standing over my father with a knife." 

Hermione gasped. "You were going to kill him?" 

Draco frowned. "I wasn't going to do anything. It wasn't me! I mean, I had been thinking about doing that very thing while I was cowering, and I think somehow, it read my mind." 

"What did you do?" 

"I stopped in my tracks and looked at my mum. She looked at me and then gave a horrible scream. She flipped, Hermione. The other me faded and within a second it was gone. I went to her and she scooted across the floor to get away from me. I was crying because I thought I'd done something wrong and that she didn't love me anymore." 

"That's awful! She must have thought she was going mad!" 

"I was crying and asking her what was wrong. She must have come to her senses because she got up ran over and scooped me into her arms. We fled to her room and locked ourselves in." 

"Obviously everything turned out all right. Your parents are still together." 

"Yes. They are. She forgave him, just like every other time and then she told him about my little 'friend'." 

"What did he say?" 

"He didn't believe her, so she called me into the room and told me to do it again." 

"Did it work? she asked, curiously. 

"Yes, but it wasn't as solid. It was like a shadow. My father was quite impressed! He told my mother and I to never speak a word about it to anyone." 

"Were those the only times you made it appear?" 

"Well last year, I was very stressed as you can imagine! Well, a few times, I made it go to class for me while I was in the Room of Requirement trying to fix that damn vanishing cabinet." 

"I thought you said that it had never appeared as solid as it did last night?" 

"It hasn't. Professor Binns never notices anything, so that was usually the class I sent it to. I sit in the back alone, no one took any notice. That night with my father, I think that if it had been just a little bit stronger, it would have succeeded in killing him. Luckily, it was weak." 

"Luckily? I wish that Doppleganger would have gotten rid of your murdering father that night. It would have saved a lot of people a lot of trouble." 

"Look Granger, I know you hate him and I don't blame you, but he IS still my father." 

"My condolences." she said and made a wreath of black roses appear next to him. 

"I don't want to argue with you about my father." 

"That's because you know I'll win!" she said with a smug smile. 

"We're wasting time! I'm going to try to make the other me appear outside the front door. Maybe he can open it and let us out." Draco said, pushing away from the table and heading for the livingroom. 

"Good thinking. Hopefully it'll work." she said, following him. 

Draco stood in front of the door and concentrated with all his might. After twenty minutes of absolutely nothing happening, he gave up. "What the bloody hell! Why won't it work?" 

"Maybe you're just too tired. Why don't you rest for a while and try again later?" 

While Draco was taking a nap in his room, Hermione decorated the livingroom. She was quite pleased with the results. The walls were now peach colored and the drapes were white, as was the sofa. The oriental rug was very beautiful as was the piano that sat in the corner. She went to the kitchen and made herself some lunch, a grilled cheese sandwich and a bowl of tomato soup. 

After she ate, she walked up to Draco's room to find a book to read. She tip toed in and scanned the shelves. Choosing a book about Ancient mysteries , she turned to leave the room, but stopped when she saw something out of the corner of her eye. It was a black velvet jewel case. 

She walked over to the desk and sat the book down. Picking up the box, she lifted the lid and saw that there was a heavy locket inside. It looked oddly familiar to her but she couldn't place it. 

Draco moaned in his sleep and Hermione quickly put the locket back into the case and shut the lid. She quietly walked over to the bed and looked down at him. He was having some sort of dream and Hermione wished she could see what it was. Almost immediately, the room began to swim before her and she felt herself falling. 

When she opened her eyes, she was standing on the shore of what she thought was the ocean. The air was warm and a slight breeze ruffled her hair. She watched as the sun started to sink below the horizon, turning the sky pink and orange. 

It was all very peaceful and Hermione found herself wondering where Draco was, After all, this was his dream, shouldn't he be in it? Suddenly a hand came out of the sand and grabbed her foot, sending her to the ground. She scrambled to roll over and get to her feet. 

She froze in mid-run as bodies started to crawl out of the sand, dead bodies that were rotting and screaming, their mouths filled with sand. She turned and ran, trying to dodge the reanimated corpses. 

She tripped over a conch shell and fell. The zombies were on her in an instant. She could smell their foul breath in her face and feel their slimy hands trying to hold her down. One of them, a blackened stinking thing with puss oozing out of his eye, tried to bite into her arm and she screamed at the top of her lungs. 

She trashed and kicked and suddenly, the scene changed. She sat up, gasping for breath and shaking. "What in the name of hell?" She was in the jungle and Draco was walking towards her wearing a cowboy hat, moon boots and Ninja outfit. If that wasn't weird enough, he was also walking a Panda bear on a leash. He took the bear off the leash and then they started to dance together. It was some sort of Salsa dance and as Hermione watched, Draco dipped the Panda, who suddenly has a rose in it's mouth. 

When Draco started to sing in Spanish, Hermione almost fell over. She just stood there and gaped at him. The jungle vanished and Hermione found herself in the shower. Hot water was pulsing over her and steam was billowing around her. The shower door opened and Draco stepped in, naked and obviously horny. "Ready to get clean, my dirty little devil?" he said to her. 

He wasted no time. He pulled her in close and kissed her. His lips were wet and soft and Hermione found herself responding, leaning into him and wrapping her tongue around his. He released her lips and roughly turned her around. He lathered the soap and then ran his hands over her back and down to her ass. 

Hermione leaned her head against the wall and arched her back as his fingers slid down her crack and entered her. The hot water cascaded over, burning her tender skin and making her feel even more turned on. She sighed at the loss when he removed his fingers, but groaned in pleasure as he replaced it with his very hard erection. He thrust so hard that she fell up against the shower wall. 

Hermione closed her eyes as the world began started to spin and when she opened them again, she found herself standing beside Draco's bed. He was lying there, looking up at her with a look of pure amusement. 

"Having a good time gallivanting around in my dreams, Granger?" 

Hermione could still feel his thrusting between her legs and for a moment, she almost jumped into his bed and ripped his clothes off. "Wh...? Oh. Sorry about that. I was just... I came in here to get a book to read and saw you. You were moaning and I... without thinking, I wished that I could see what you were dreaming." 

"Tsk tsk, Granger. So curious. Did you have a good time? Did you enjoy the zombies? Pretty scary huh? I apologize for the jungle thing. I really have no idea what that was all about!" He chuckled. "But I do know that you enjoyed that shower, didn't you?" 

Hermione frowned at him. He was lying on his back with his hands under his head, smiling at her. His hair was a mess and he was only wearing his pants. "Why do you have to be so damn sexy?" she asked. 

"You think I'm sexy, Granger?" 

"What a dumb question!" 

"Tell me how sexy I am." He pinned her underneath himself and pushed his pelvis into her. 

Hermione looked up at him. His hair was hanging in his face and his eyes were blazing. There was something dangerous about this man, something that made her forget herself and think and do things that she would never do with another man. "I think you know how sexy you are, why should I have to tell you?" 

He smiled. "Because I want to hear it from your lips." 

"These lips?" she asked, lifting her head and placing her mouth gently on his. 

"Yes. These amazing, beautiful, sensual lips." he said, finger tracing her bottom lip. "These lips that I want wrapped around my cock." he said, smirking. 

Hermione sat up, accidentally on purpose smacking heads with him. "Why did you have to ruin the moment by talking vulgar?" 

"Ow! I think you broke my friggin forehead!" he said, getting off the bed and examining himself in the mirror. "Haven't you had enough sex for one day, Granger? Did you honestly think we were going to do 'it' again? Jeez, I thought I was a sex fiend!" 

Hermione jumped off the bed, snatched up her book and threw it at his head. "Go to hell, Malfoy!" 

He held up his hand and caught the book easily. "Have you forgotten that we're already in hell, Granger?" 

"I don't believe you think this is hell! You said yourself that you were in no hurry to leave!" She walked to the doorway. "You're safe here, but for how long? Some day, Voldemort is going to find you and I for one, don't want to be here when he comes knocking! You better find a way out of here, it's all your fault I'm here!" 

"How dare you blame me! I didn't ask to be put in this hell hole and I didn't ask you to come to my rescue! Find your own way out, I'm not helping you!" He pushed her out of the room and slammed the door. 

Hermione ran to her room slammed the door behind her. She leaned against it, crying in anger and frustration. "AHHHHH!" she screamed, picked up a porcelain cherub and flung it across the room where it smashed into a million pieces. 

Draco head her little hissy fit and rolled his eyes. "One minute were on the verge of sex and the next were fighting and throwing things. One might think that we're in love or something!" he smiled at this statement and then went to take a shower, alone. 

After he had dressed, he went down stairs to make something to eat. He wasn't sure how to cook what he wanted and was not surprised when a fat cookbook appeared on the table. "Hmm. What sounds good?" he said, flipping through the pages. "Spaghetti! Looks pretty simple." And it was. He had his meal done in twenty minutes and had to admit that it tasted damn good. 

He thought about taking some up to Hermione, who hadn't shown her face since their little argument earlier. "I don't want her to starve to death, just because she doesn't want to see me." He put some spaghetti on a plate, put the plate on a tray and headed for the stairs. When he reached to top, he looked at the tray. "This is not too cute," he said and made a glass of wine appear and then a tiny vase with a single red rose in it. "That's better." 

Draco knocked on her door. No answer. "Granger! I made some dinner. Do you want some?" Silence. "I went to all this trouble just for you. The least you can do is open the door!" 

"Go away, Malfoy! I never want to lay eyes on you again! I'm not coming out until you find a way for us to escape!" 

Draco set the tray on the floor. "Well then I guess I'll never see you again! There is no way out, Granger! We'll just have to wait for Snape to come back." 

Hermione threw her shoe at the door. "He's not coming back! Now you better think of something, Malfoy! You better fix this! I want to go home, I miss my friends!" 

Draco smiled. "You want your friends?" Why not wish for them? It worked for me. I wished for you and low and behold, a week later, you show up. Hell I'll even wish with you! I'd love to see Potter and Weasley again! I look forward to telling them all about us." 

"You wouldn't!" 

"Oh yes I would!" he said, laughing. "So just go right ahead and make them come!" 

"You are such a slimy bastard, Malfoy! I hate you!" 

"Now, Granger, Just an hour ago, you were in my bed, trying to seduce me! I don't believe for a second that you hate me!" He whispered through the door, "I think you love me." 

Hermione ran to the door and flung it open. "I DO NOT LOVE YOU!" she screamed at him. 

He looked offended. "How horrible for me! I shall go and impale myself on a kitchen knife for I have been denied love from the one lady that holds my heart!" 

Hermione smiled sweetly at him. "Go ahead and kill yourself! Just make sure you plunge the knife into your stomach, that way you'll die slowly and painfully!" She slammed the door in his face. A sign appeared on the outside that said 'No jackasses allowed!'. 

Draco shouted through the door. "All this just because I wouldn't make love to you? How pathetic!" He picked up the tray and took it back to the kitchen. 

That night Hermione lay in her bed for a long time, thinking about Harry and Ron. "They must have realized by now that I'm missing." she said, on the verge of crying again. "Please let them come and take me out of here! I don't think I can stand one more day of Malfoy." 

She wanted to stay away from him. He drove her crazy, both mentally and physically. She loved him but she hated him too. She hated that he had so much control over her. All he had to do was walk around without a shirt and she'd probably attack him. 

What was even worse was that he knew she loved him. Hermione was not stupid, she knew he felt the same way. If only he wasn't such a bastard! 

Slowly her eyes closed and she fell asleep, dreaming of Draco and that locket in his room. 

Around 2 a.m., her eyes flew open. There, standing next to her bed was Snape. She drew in a huge breath to scream but he put his hand over mouth to silence her. She stared up at him with wide, frightened eyes. 

"Well hello, Miss Granger! It's time you and I had a little talk!"


	11. 11

  
Author's notes: Let's see what Snape has to say for himself...  


* * *

Hermione was frightened beyond all belief. Snape was a murderer and apparently a kidnapper as well. Would he hurt her or worse? She thought about Snape's cold hands ripping her clothes off and she just about gagged. 

"I'm going to take my hand away, Miss Granger. You are to not make a sound. Do you understand?" 

Hermione nodded her head, eyes still wide with panic. 

Snape slowly pulled his hand away from her mouth, and stood up. Hermione sat up and let out a piercing scream that shook the windows. Her bedroom door was suddenly kicked in and Draco burst into the room, brandishing a butcher knife. 

"What the hell is going on?" he said, flipping on the lights. "Snape?" 

"The one and only." Snape said with an arrogant grin. 

"I should kill you! What were doing to Hermione?" Draco said, waving the knife in Snape's pale face. 

"Hermione?" Snape looked at her and raised his eyebrow. "Since when did 'Mudblood Granger' become 'Hermione'?" 

"I'm the one with the knife in your face, Snape. I'll ask the questions!" Draco said and suddenly, Snape was tied a wooden chair in the middle of the room. 

"Why are you here? Why did you leave me and not come back? Are you here to release me? Where is my mother and is she okay?" 

Snape rolled his eyes. "Please Mr. Malfoy, one question at a time!" 

Hermione jumped off the bed and stood next to Draco. He put his arm around her. "Did he hurt you?" 

She smiled at him. "No, I'm fine," she answered as he kissed her cheek. 

"Don't tell me the two of you are... are... I shudder to think about it! Miss know it all and the heir to the Malfoy fortune? How long has this been going on?" 

"None of your damn business, you murdering bastard!" Hermione said. 

"I've been watching you all day and I knew you were, shall we say, hot for each other? I never would have guessed in a million years that the two of you actually care about one other!" Snape laughed like this was the funniest thing in the world. 

"What do you mean, you've been watching us?" Draco said. "Why would you do that?" 

"Stupid boy! Do you honestly think I would have left you here and not have monitored your every move? I've been watching you off and on the entire time! Who do you think has been screening your wishes?" 

"Screening my wishes?" 

"I had to you with some power. You've been coddled your whole life, I knew you didn't know how to do the simplest things for yourself." Snape laughed again. It sounded totally alien to Hermione, who had never heard anything come from his mouth other than insults. 

"What took you so long to come back?" Draco asked. 

"I had every intention of coming back in a few days, a week at the most, but there were complications." 

"Such as?" Hermione said. 

"I'm not sure I should tell you this Draco. It might come as a shock." Snape said, looking dead serious. 

"I can handle it. Now tell me!" 

"At first, when I went back to the Dark Lord to tell him that Dumbledore was... no longer a problem, he was very grateful, to say the least." 

"I'm sure he was!" Hermione said angrily. "You had just killed his worst enemy for him!" 

Snape looked at her. "You may not believe this, Miss Granger, but it was on Dumbledor's orders that I killed him!" 

Hermione gasped. "You lie! Why would he do that?" 

"To protect Draco and myself from certain death. I made an unbreakable vow with Draco's mother. Part of the vow was that if Draco could not complete the task of killing Dumbledore, than I would have to do it for him." 

Hermione was flabbergasted. "So Dumbledore knew about this vow?" 

"Yes, I told him. I also told him that I was willing to die, not fulfilling the vow. We both knew that Draco wasn't a killer. Dumbledore insisted that I go through with it! He said he was old and tired and that all that mattered was that Draco remained innocent. He believed there was good in you," Snape said and looked at Draco with hatred. 

"It was all for you! All to save your wretched soul from eternal damnation that I had to murder the only real friend I've ever had!" Snape yelled. 

Draco dropped the knife on the carpet. "I... I" He put his face in his hands and collapsed on the bed. 

Hermione was furious. "How dare you lay a guilt trip on him! As if he doesn't already feel bad for his part in all this!" Hermione picked up the knife. "You killed him, not Draco! Don't blame him because you were to much of a coward to throw yourself off the tower!" 

"I was just following orders!" Snape said as Hermione put the knife blade against his throat. 

"That's what you do best, isn't it Snape? Follow orders? Orders from the Dark Lord?" 

"I am not in the Dark Lord's service! I belong to the Order! I was faithful to Dumbledore!" 

Draco got up, ran to Snape and punched him dead in the face. There was a sickening crunch as his nose broke and blood squirted out, landing on the carpet. "I want you to let us out of here, right now! You let me go or so help me, I'll take this knife and gut you like a pig!" 

Snape smiled. Blood was pouring down his face and his teeth were red with it. "Where do you think you would go, Draco? The Death Eaters are looking for you, the members of the Order are looking for you and so are about fifty Aurors. You wouldn't get very far!" 

"I don't care! I need to check on my mother!" 

"You mother is dead, Draco." 

"You lie!" 

"I'm not lying. The Dark Lord tortured her to try and find out where you were. When she wouldn't tell, he killed her." 

"Why would he care so much about finding me?" Draco asked. "I thought I was given a mission that was guaranteed to fail, so that I would die?" 

"That was the idea. The Dark Lord wanted to punish Lucius." 

Hermione was confused. "So last year, Voldemort could care less if Draco died and now this year he suddenly wants to be his best friend? Why?" 

"Because Bellatrix told him about Draco's ability to produce a Doppleganger." 

"Why would Aunt Bella tell him that? My father told my mother not to say a word to anyone about it, so how did she know? And what's the big deal about a Doppleganger?" 

"It appears that your mother talked to her sister about it, what can I say? Woman love to talk." Hermione shot him a dirty look. "After the mess at the Ministry, Bella fell from favor. The Dark Lord no longer trusted her and in order to regain that trust, she told him about your 'twin'." 

"I still don't see what the big deal is! I'm sure plenty of Wizards can do it!" 

"No they can't, Draco. It's a sign of power. You have complete control over you mind. I understand that you're a very good Legilimens as well as very adept at Occlumency?" 

Draco nodded. "So I've been told." 

"I am also very good at these things, how else would I have been able to fool The Dark Lord? But as capable as I am, I have never been able to produce a Doppleganger! It is a VERY rare power and The Dark Lord wants to use it to his advantage." 

Hermione sat down on the bed and sighed. "You left him here to protect him?" she said, looking over at the bleeding man in the chair. 

"Yes." 

"What does the Order say about this?" 

Snape frowned. "I haven't been able to contact them. How can I? They all believe that I murdered Dumbledore in cold blood! What am I supposed to do? Just stroll right up to Headquarters and tell them what really happened? I wouldn't get the first word out before Potter killed me!" 

"I see you point," Hermione said. "Well, after you let me go, I'll tell them what you've said." 

"Let you go? Let you go?" Snape shook his head. "I'm afraid I can't do that, Miss Granger." 

"What do you mean you can't let her go?" Draco asked, ready to punch him again. 

"She knows where you are. What if Voldemort captured her and did to her what he did to your mother? Do you want your girlfriend here to die , screaming in agony?" 

Draco looked over at Hermione. "No. Of course I wouldn't want that. And she's not my girlfriend!" 

Hermione smiled. "So, I'm stuck here with him? For how long?" Hermione took the knife from Draco and walked over to Snape. He cringed in fear as she walked up behind him. 

"What are you going to do? Kill me? Because then, you'll never get out!" he said to her. 

"I'm not going to kill you, although I should. I'm not sure whether to believe you or not, you're the father of lies." She cut him loose. "Now tell me, Severus, how long must Draco and I be kept prisoner?" 

"Until Potter finds and destroys all the Horcruxes!" 

"How do you know about the Horcruxes?" Hermione said, curiously. 

"What the fuck is a Horcrux?" Draco said. He was still shocked by the news of his mother death and still more shocked that his freedom depended on Potter. "Someone tell me what the hell is going on?" 

Snape and Hermione eyed each other. "Voldemort has hidden parts of his soul in different objects. Harry must find them and destroy them before he can kill Voldemort for good." Hermione tore her eyes away from Snape's. "Dumbledore has already destroyed one. A ring that belonged to Voldemort's grandfather." 

"How many are left?" Draco asked. 

"Do you remember that diary your father gave Ginny Weasley to open the chamber of Secrets?" 

"Yeah. What about it?" 

Hermione laughed. "That was part of Voldemort's soul. Harry destroyed it." 

Draco stared at her in disbelief. "My father had a Horcrux and didn't know it? No wonder the Dark Lord was so damn angry at him!" 

"We are going to be stuck in here forever! Harry is not even close to finding all of them. There are four left. He thought he found the locket..." Hermione's eyes slid out of focus. Snape and Draco watched as she made the doorway appear between the two bedrooms and then race off. 

"What the hell?" Draco said as they followed her. 

She was standing by the desk with the open jewel box in her hand. She picked up the locket by the chain and watched it swing back and forth. "Where did you get this?" she asked. 

"My mum gave it me. Some disgusting House Elf brought it to our house last summer. "She sent it to me in by owl and told me to keep it with me at all times." 

Snape and Hermione locked eyes as understanding passed between them. "This is Slytherin's locket," she said to Draco. 

"So?" 

Snape reached out for it but Hermione clutched it to her chest. "This, Malfoy, is a Horcrux!" 

"How the bloody hell does my family keep ending up with vessels containing fragments of the Dark Lord?" 

"Narcissa knew what this was. How did she know?" Snape said to no one in particular. "This makes no sense!" 

He suddenly turned to Draco. This past year, while your father as been... away, has your mother had any visitors? Anyone that you had never seen before?" 

Draco concentrated. "I don't know. There was this one bloke. Someone named Stucky Bordly or something." 

"Stubby Boardman?" Hermione said. 

"Yeah that's it!" 

Hermione asked Snape, "Does this mean anything to you?" 

"No," he said, looking confused. "Why would Stubby Boardman be visiting Narcissa? Hasn't he been in seclusion for years and years?" 

Hermione put the locket back into the box and snapped the lid shut. "All I know is that we need to get Harry here, he needs to destroy this!" she looked at Snape. "I don't what you have to do, or what you have to say, you must go to Headquarters and bring Harry back here!"


	12. 12

  
Author's notes: The tro figure out that Hermione is missing.  


* * *

"Before I go, there's just one thing I don't understand," Snape said to Hermione. 

"ONE thing!?!" Draco said, rolling his eyes. 

"How did you find Mr. Malfoy?" he asked, wiping the blood from his face. 

"Some one sent me letters and a map of the woods here and told me I would find what I was looking for." 

"Hmm. Curious. I'm the only one who knows about this place. There was one other, but he died years ago. Do you still have the map?" Hermione went to her desk and pulled out the folder and handed it to Snape. He looked over the papers and then began pacing the floor. "This explains how you found the barrier, but then how did you get through?" 

"That would have been Draco. He said he was wishing for me to come." 

"Ah!" he said turning to Draco. "Were you missing your lady love? How long have the two of you been involved?" 

"Well, were not really 'involved' so to speak. We had kind of a one night stand last summer and that was all." Draco said, actually blushing. 

Snape grinned. "I think it must have been more than a one night stand, for you to be able to wish her here. I put a powerful spell around this house that no one could penetrate. Are you sure you don't love her, Mr. Malfoy?" Snape asked. He was having the utmost fun making the boy uncomfortable. "Because only very strong love could let her through the barrier." 

Draco wanted to run from the room. He glanced over at Hermione, who was smiling behind her hand and then to Snape, who was smirking. "I do not have to answer that question!" 

"That's fine, Draco. I think we all know the answer anyway. I was watching and listening, remember? I especially loved the part when you molested your snowwoman! Oh! And that Roman Soldier thing was just so creative!" 

Draco shoved his hands into his pockets and stomped from the room. 

Snape watched him go and then turned to Hermione. "You and Mr. Malfoy must remain here, protected until I return with Potter. Keep the locket safe and under no circumstances are you to wish anyone else here! I will return as soon as I can." He walked over to Hermione and shook her hand. She almost fell over in shock. "I hope to see you again, but if I don't return within a week, the magic around the house will vanish and it will be up to you and Draco to reach Potter." 

"Good luck," she said. "And be careful." 

Snape nodded at her and sped from the room, black robes billowing around his ankles. 

Hermione picked up the jewel case and opened it. It was hard to believe that something so small contained a piece of Voldemort's soul. She tried to open it, but nothing happened. "I hope Harry knows how to destroy this!" She replaced the locket and closed the case. Walking over to the corner, she placed it in the safe that had suddenly appeared. She checked herself out in the bathroom mirror and then went in search of Draco. 

Snape went down the stairs and as he reached out to grasp the doorknob to the front door, Draco's hand came down on his shoulder and spun him around. 

"How dare you embarrass me in front of Granger!" 

Snape laughed. "Grow up Draco! If you love the girl, tell her!" 

"I can't do that!" 

Snape became very serious. "If you don't want to loose her forever, you need to tell her. Let me share something with you. I once cared very deeply for a woman. She was beautiful, smart and very caring. I never had enough courage to tell her that I loved her. Do you know what happened?" 

Draco shook his head. 

"She married someone else and then was killed. I lost her forever. She died without knowing how much I cared about her. Don't make the same mistake, Draco." Snape patted the boy on the arm and then left. 

Hermione stood on the stairs, listening to Snape. "I wonder who it was? Who could he have been in love with?" The thought of her former Professor whispering sweet nothings into some girl's ear was enough to make her laugh out loud. 

Draco turned at the sound of Hermione laughing. "What's so funny?" 

"Snape being in love! That's what's so funny!" she said, walking down the last three steps. "Can you imagine him snogging a girl?" 

"How about imagining him naked?" Draco said, shivering in horror. 

"I CAN HEAR YOU!!" Snape's voice boomed through the house. "STOP DISCUSSING MY SEX LIFE AND WORRY ABOUT YOUR OWN!" 

Hermione jumped and clutched onto Draco in fear. He picked her up and threw her down on the white sofa. "You heard the man, let's worry about our own sex life!" 

"How can you possibly think I would want to make love to you now that I know he can see and hear us?" she asked, trying to push him off. 

"But Granger, since he HAS already seen it, what's the big deal?" 

"Get off me right now!" she said through clenched teeth. 

"No." 

"Fine!" she said and kneed him as hard as she could in the groin. He clutched his privates and fell off the sofa, landing on the floor, where he rolled around screaming in agony. 

Hermione sat up. "I told you to get off me!" 

"You stupid bitch! I think you broke my dick!" He turned purple and then passed out. 

Snape ran through the woods and stopped at the barrier. He took out his wand and was just about to say the spell to open it when he was knocked over. He scrambled to get up and beheld a person he never thought he'd ever see again. "You? But you're dead! How can this be?" 

Ginny came down the stairs of Grimauld Place. She was looking for Ron and found him in the kitchen, as always. "Morning," she said. 

"Is Hermione up yet? I wanted to ask her about her recent rescue mission," Ron said, shoving a huge spoon of porridge into his mouth. 

"She's not here. Either she has left already or she never came home." 

Ron spit the porridge out of his mouth. "What do you mean? Why didn't anyone say anything?" He got up and raced to her room. "Hermione? Are you here?" 

There was no answer. Ron stood there, in the silence, panic rushing over him. "Ginny! Ginny get up here!" 

She came running into the room. "What! Is something wrong?" 

Ron turned to her and totally lost his temper. "YES! Something is wrong!" His face was the color of molten lava. "Hermione goes out, by herself, to find Malfoy and then NEVER COMES BACK! How could no one notice?" 

Ginny shrugged her shoulders. "You were gone, Harry is gone, everyone else comes and goes. It's easy to loose track." 

Ron stepped over to Hermione's desk. "Are you sure she didn't leave a note or something?" 

"I've been here the whole time. I never saw her or spoke to her. Maybe she came back in the middle of the night and then left again. You're probably panicking for no reason!" 

"Where is Harry?" Ron asked, still rifling through Hermione's papers. 

"Where do you think?" 

"Why are you so angry with him lately? He has a job to do and the sooner he accomplishes it, the sooner the two of you can get on with your life!" 

"You wouldn't understand! I love him Ron! I love him and he goes out day after day and I never know if he's going to come back!" Ginny started to cry. 

Ron dropped the papers and embraced his sister. "He'll be fine, Gin." 

"Why all the yelling and crying?" Harry asked, coming into the room. "I could here you lot all the way down stairs. You're not having another row, are you?" 

Ginny ran over to him grabbed his face and kissed him ferociously. "I'm so glad you're back!" 

"If this is the way you treat me when I return, I think I'll have to leave more often!" he said, wiggling his eyebrows. 

"Don't you dare!" she said, smiling through her tears. 

"Where's Hermione?" Harry asked, looking around the room. Ginny and Ron glanced at each other. "Well? Did she find Malfoy?" 

"Harry, Hermione never came home." 

"WHAT? We need to find her, and I mean right now! She might be in serious danger!" 

Hermione went to the kitchen, made an ice pack for Draco and walked back his unconscious body. She kneeled down next to him and unzipped his pants. Carefully she put the ice pack over his wounded balls. 

"Hey!" he said, eyes fluttering open. "That's friggin cold!" 

"Just shut up and hold the ice on it, it'll help the swelling." 

"Why don't YOU hold it, you ball buster!" 

"Why don't YOU go to hell? I'm trying to help you, in case you haven't noticed!" 

"Help me!? Feeling guilty because you kneed my balls into my throat, or feeling sad because now it'll be a while before we can have wild crazy sex?" 

"I don't understand you! Snape just told you that your mother has been killed and yet all you can think about is 'doing it'. Don't you care that she's dead?" 

"I care more than you know, Granger. She was the only person who was ever decent to me, the only person who ever truly loved me. Of course I'll miss her." Draco was trying to hold back his tears, he did not EVER want to cry in front of anyone, especially Hermione. 

"She's not the only person who loves you." Hermione said, leaning in close to him. "I love you." Just as her lips touched his, there was a knock at the door.


	13. 13

  
Author's notes: Snape brings home a guest.  


* * *

"Who the hell could that be?" Draco said, looking at the door. 

"I don't know." 

"Maybe if we ignore it, they'll go away." 

A series of loud bangs resounded from the other side of the door. "For the love of Merlin! Let me in!" Snape said. 

"Not by the hair of my chinny chin chin!" Hermione said, laughing. 

"You have hair on your chin?" Draco said, moving her face to get a better look. 

"No stupid! It's a Muggle nursery rhyme. The Three Little Pigs." 

"Open this damn door before I..." 

"How do we know it's really you?" Hermione said, smirking at Draco as they stood up. 

"Maybe you're the Dark Lord pretending to be Snape!" Draco said through the wood. "Say something only Snape would know." 

Severus could hear them laughing on the other side of the door. He looked at his friend with a frown. "I know that when you were five, Draco, you liked to eat your boogers!" 

The door opened. "That's not true!" 

"If you say so." Severus said with a smile and he and his guest pushed past him. 

Draco shut the door and he and Hermione looked at the stranger. "Aren't you Stubble Brookman?" 

"Stubby Boardman! And yes, I'm him." 

"Are you blind Professor? He doesn't look a thing like Potter!" Draco said, lifting his eyebrow. "Perhaps your eyesight is dimming in your old age?" 

"Oh shut up Mr. Malfoy!" Severus said, rolling is eyes. He gestured for the man to have a seat. "Do you need a drink? Perhaps something to eat?" 

"That would be wonderful!" Stubby said rubbing his hands together. 

Snape turned to Hermione, who was staring at Stubby. "Would you be so kind as to get Mr. Boardman a drink and maybe a sandwich?" 

"Sure," she said, still looking strangely at the man. "Right away." 

Draco took a seat next to the former rock star. "We've met, last summer, at my home? You came to see my mother." 

Stubby looked uncomfortable. "Ah yes! I remember! " 

"Are you and she old friends or something?" 

"I was more of a friend to your father." Stubby said, looking at Snape. 

Hermione came back in carrying a tray. "Here you are Mr. Boardman. Or should I say, Mr. Black?" 

The stunned man dropped the tray and sent it crashing to the floor. "Wh... I.. How?" 

Hermione grinned. "You look an awful lot like him you know! Your brother." 

Draco was totally confused. "Brother? Would someone please tell me what's going on? Why am I always the last one to find out everything?" 

Snape took off his cloak and sat himself down in a white recliner. "Shall we tell them, Regulus?" 

Harry and Ron ran down the stairs, closely followed by Ginny and Crookshanks. "How are we going to find her? I have no idea where she went!" Harry said. "She was always so secret about this mission!" 

Ron tripped over Crookshanks and almost fell. "Stupid damn cat!" 

Ginny stopped on the bottom step. "All I know is that she was getting information from an anonymous person." 

"That's just friggin great! How could she have been so careless?" Harry said angrily. "We're at war for piss sakes! It was probably all a trick to capture her!" 

"Or worse!" Ron said. "To kill her!" 

"Don't you even think that!" Ginny said, turning on her brother. "She's fine! She has to be!" Ginny started to cry again. 

Harry, who never knew what to do with bawling girls, just looked at her helplessly. "I'm sure everything going to be all right." 

Crookshanks was pawing at something under the table and meowing like crazy. They all ignored him. 

The front door opened and Remus Lupin strolled in. "Morning!" He glanced at the trio. "Something wrong?" 

Ron spoke up "Hermione went out to find Malfoy and never came back." 

"What?" Remus grabbed Ron and shook him. "How long has she been gone?" 

"I don't know! Over 24 hours!" Ron sagged to the ground as Remus let go of him. 

"Where are her papers? Did she leave anything?" 

"Nothing." Harry said, sadly. "I have no idea where to start looking for her!" 

"Would someone shut that cat up! I can't think!" Remus said, holding his head. 

Ginny bent down to pick up Crookshanks. "What's this?" she said. "It's some sort of map!" 

"Give me that!" Ron said, snatching it out of her hand. "This must be her's! Maybe she left it!" 

"More like she was in a hurry and dropped it. Either way, it's good news for us!" Remus said. "Get your cloaks and brooms." 

"Aren't we going to apparate?" Harry asked. 

"Yes, but we have no idea what we are going to encounter. We need to be prepared for anything!" 

"Good thinking!" Ron said and they all raced up the stairs to fetch their brooms. 

"Regulus?" Draco said. "Who the bloody hell is Regulus?" 

"I'll tell you who he is!" Hermione said. "He's the brother of Sirius Black, your cousin and a former Death Eater." 

"Sirius Black had a brother? That's news to me!" 

"That's because he was killed either by Voldemort or his fellow Death Eaters, before we were born or shortly after." Hermione glared at the man. "How did you fool them?" 

"Pretended to be dead. Simple really. The curse missed me, I fell down and lay there like a corpse, not to difficult." He lolled his head to the side and pretended to be dead. " 

"What did you do next?" Draco asked, intrigued. "How did you become Sickly Boreman" 

"Stubby Boardman!" Regulus said, rolling his eyes. "Dumbledore." 

"Dumbledore?" 

"I went to Dumbledore. I told him... some things. He was willing to help me hide." 

Draco laughed. "How is becoming a famous star hiding?" 

Regulus smiled. "That was the genius of it! Hide in plain sight! Dumbledore had done it before!" 

"With whom?" Hermione asked, curiously. 

Regulus looked at Severus. "Would like to tell them, or should I?" 

Snape waved his hand. "You go ahead." 

Regulus looked gleeful. "You know your librarian? Madam Pince?" 

"Yes. What about her?" Hermione said. 

"She is actually Eileen Prince, mother of Severus Snape!" 

"Huh?" Draco asked, looking over at the sallow faced man in the chair. "Really?" he asked. 

"Yes, really, Mr. Malfoy." Severus said, looking glum. "My dear old father was a brutal bastard that beat her daily. She needed help to escape and Dumbledore was more than willing to accommodate her." 

"She's been hiding at Hogwarts all this time?" Hermione said, in disbelief. "I never would have guessed!" 

"That's the whole point, Miss Granger." Snape said, in a bored voice. "Dumbledore always offered help when he could. He gave my mother security. That was one of the reasons I was faithful to him." 

"He wanted to hide me and my mum from the Dark Lord," Draco said. "On the tower. Before the Death Eaters... and you arrived," he said, looking at Snape. "He said he could hide us more completely than I could ever imagine." 

"I guess he was right. No one has ever suspected that Stubby was Regulus Black and I doubt anyone has ever realized that Madam Pince was Eileen Prince." 

Regulus suddenly sat forward and said to Hermione, "Now that you know who I am, tell me were the locket is." 

"Locket?" 

"The LOCKET. The Horcrux! The one I risked my life to retrieve! Do you still have it? Is it safe?" 

Hermione, Draco and Severus all looked at each other in shock.


	14. 14

  
Author's notes: someone is back from the dead and he has some explaining to do.  


* * *

Hermione couldn't believe her ears. "Of course!" she said, smacking her forehead. "R.A.B.! You're R.A.B.!" 

Draco looked at Snape, who was just as confused. "Are you going explain?" he asked Hermione. 

"Harry and Dumbledore went to steal this locket Horcrux the night that Dumbledore died." Hermione was flushed and talking extremely fast. "Harry found it, lying next to Dumbledore's crumpled body, opened. There was a note to Voldemort inside." 

Hermione stopped and looked over at Regulus. "He stole the real locket and replaced it with a fake one." Hermione narrowed her eyes at him. "Harry said that it would have taken more than one wizard to get to the middle of the lake and retrieve the Horcrux. How did you do it? Who was with you?" 

Snape leaned forward, clearly intrigued. "Yes, Regulus. How did you fool the Dark Lord?" 

"Kreacher." 

"Kreacher! He helped you?" 

Regulus smiled. "That's why he recognized the locket that you threw out. He stole it from the trash and took it to Narcissa. He told her what it was. She was going to keep it and use it to her advantage when the time arose." 

"How do you know all this?" Snape asked. "If she had it, why did she not use it last year when the Dark Lord was trying making Draco a killer?" 

"When I heard about Lucius being put in Azkaban, I ventured out of this house and went to see her." 

"This house?" Draco said. "This is YOUR house?" 

Regulus grinned. "Oh yes. I've been hiding here for years. Severus and I used to come here to kick back and get drunk after meetings. No one has ever bothered me here. Until one day, when I came back from a walk to find a certain son of a Death Eater squatting inside." 

"Sorry. It wasn't my idea. Snape locked me up and then left me to die!" 

"That is an exaggeration!" Severus said. "Had I known that you were here, Regulus," he said, turning to the man. "I would have asked your permission to house the Malfoy brat here." 

"I'm not blaming you, Severus. You had no way of knowing I was still alive and living here. Well, I couldn't come back inside, so I've been living in the woods. I couldn't even risk feeding my dog. I see he no longer can frolic through the trees, chasing rabbits!" 

Draco looked out the window at the dead dog. "Sorry about that!" 

"Back to what you were saying about Narcissa," Hermione said, rudely. "Why would you risk everything to see her?" 

"Because she was my favorite cousin. We were very close." Regulus started to cry. "Severus has told me that she's dead! I can't believe it! I refuse to believe it!" 

Draco averted his eyes and stared at a spider that was slowly walking across the wall. "God. Shut up! Stop bawling!" he said to himself. There was a lump in his throat the size of a walnut and he knew that if this Regulus person didn't stop crying, he would soon join him. 

"She was... was wearing the locket around her neck!" Regulus looked at Draco. "I was so shocked to see it. I asked her if she knew what it was and she said yes." 

"Why did she send it to Draco?" Hermione asked. "If she knew what it was and that it was so dangerous, why did she send it to him of all people?" 

"I told her to send it to him." 

"But why?" 

Regulus stood up and began pacing the floor. "She told me about what the Dark Lord was making Draco do. She also told me about the Vow she made with you, Severus." He nodded in Snape's direction. "Apparently, she didn't have the courage to use the locket. It stayed around her neck, hidden in her robes. Even when the Dark Lord was standing in front of her, he never knew it was there!" 

Draco stood by the window, silently taking all this in. He was slowly getting angry and knew he was going to explode soon. 

"I told Narcissa that she was in danger, that she needed to put that Horcrux somewhere safe until we could figure out a way to use it to our advantage." 

"So she sent it to ME!!" Draco yelled. "How utterly stupid!" 

"It wasn't stupid, Draco." Snape said quietly. "She knew that Hogwarts was the safest place for that locket. She did make a terrible mistake by not telling you what it was, though." 

"All she said was that it belonged to someone very important and that I was to keep it with me at all times, which I did." 

Hermione was beside herself. "You mean to tell me that you had that Horcrux with you all last year and that it was with you when all that... stuff happened on the tower?" 

"Yes. But I didn't know what it was!" Draco punched the wall next to the window, making everyone cringe. "I wish I would have! I would have used it!" 

Regulus laughed. "You say that now! I highly doubt that you would have strolled up to the Dark Lord swinging the locket and saying 'nah nah nah nah nah, I've got part of your soul, you bastard!' He would have killed you instantly and took back his Horcrux." 

Snape sighed. "No one can 'use' the Horcrux to do anything. It must be destroyed... and Potter has to do it!" 

"Why Potter?" Draco said. "Why can't I just smash the damn thing with a sledge hammer and be done with it?" 

"Potter is the chosen one. He has to do it." Snape said. 

"But Dumbledore destroyed the Ring!" Hermione said. 

"Yes and he almost died doing it!" Snape said, clearly agitated. "If it wasn't for me, his whole body would have burned and turned black, just like his hand!" 

"Did Dumbledore tell you how he hurt his hand?" Hermione asked. 

"Yes. He had to tell me precisely what had happened, so that I could heal him properly. I knew that he was leaving the school to try and locate more, but he never told me exactly where he was going." 

"Who cares about all this? It's in the past!" Draco said. "We need to get Potter here so he can destroy this Horcrux and be one step closer to getting rid of the fucking murdering bastard!" 

"The boy's right. When do we leave, Severus?" 

"We?" Snape said, raising his eyebrow at Regulus. "Are you sure?" 

"It's time for Regulus Black to come out of hiding," he said with a smile. "I'm sure the Potter boy could use my help. After all, I know precicely where the other Horcruxes are!"


	15. 15

  
Author's notes: A trip through the woods and some love making.  


* * *

As soon as Snape and Regulas left to go fetch Harry, Draco turned to Hermione and said, with a smirk to end all smirks, "So, where were we?" 

"I haven't the slightest idea what you're talking about." She looked out the window and then sat down on the sofa, looking up at him in pretend confusion. 

"Don't play dumb with me, Granger. Right before Slimy Broadtree and Snape came knocking at the door, you said something." He smiled widely, reminding Hermione of the Cheshire Cat. 

"And what was it that I SUPOSSIDLY said to you?" 

He sauntered over to her, leaned over and with his face an inch from her's and whispered, "You said you love me." 

Hermione blushed. "I.. You.." she stammered. She looked into his laughing eyes and frowned. "I said no such thing." 

"Yes you did." 

"NO I DIDN'T!" she pushed him away and stood up. 

"Yes you did, and I can prove it!" he motioned to the floor, where they had been laying earlier. He closed his eyes for a moment and after opening them again, he looked over his shoulder at her. "Now listen closely." 

Hermione watched as the ghostly forms of herself and Draco appeared on the floor. It was like viewing a black and white movie. She heard Draco say "I care more than you know, Granger. She was the only person who was ever decent to me, the only person who ever truly loved me. Of course I'll miss her." 

Hermione glanced over at Draco, who was obviously trying not to cry. He gave her a half- hearted smile and motioned for her to keep listening to the ghost couple. Hermione watched herself lean in much to close to Draco's lips and say, "She's not the only person who loves you. I love you." She saw their lips touch and then the image faded away. 

Hermione was forcing herself not to look at him. "How am I going to get out of this?" she asked herself. "That proves nothing," she said, turning and walking up the stairs. 

Draco rolled his eyes, and ran up the stairs two at a time. He turned right in front of her and blocked her way. When she tried to move to the side, he stepped in her way. 

"Oh very mature, Draco!" she said, crossing her arms and staring at him defiantly. "Move." 

Draco smirked and tilted his head to the side. "I'm not moving until you admit that you love me." 

"I guess we'll be here all night then, won't we?" She turned to go back down the stairs, but there at the bottom was his Doppleganger, holding a Cricket bat. She stopped dead in her tracks. Slowly she began to walk back up to Draco. Her heart began beating fast when she realized she could hear the 'fetch' following her, smacking the bat on the palm of his hand. 

"Get that thing away from me." she said, grabbing on to Draco's shirt. 

"Not until you tell me what I want to hear. Oh look! He's only two steps away from you! What should I make him do to you? Something sexual? No, you'd probably like that." He snapped his fingers. "I've got it! How about I change the scenery and make it so that you're trapped under the dark, bug infested porch out front?" 

Hermione just blinked at him. "How do you know about that?" 

"I can read your mind, remember? He's right behind you. You're trapped! Now either tell me you love me, or it's the blackness in a small confined area with roaches, spiders and centipedes crawling over your naked body." 

Hermione was panicked. "You can't do this!" she thought fast. "Even if I DID love you, I'm not going to after this!" 

Draco faltered for a moment and the Doppleganger faded away. Maybe she was right. What was he doing? Threatening her with her worse fear just to get her to say she loves him?" He was about to apologize, when the step he was standing on collapsed and he fell through the staircase. 

Hermione laughed as Draco fell into the gaping hole and onto a feather mattress that appeared under him. She jumped over the missing steps and ran to her room, slamming the door behind her. 

Draco looked up at her laughing face and felt more angry (and strangely enough, turned on) than he had ever been in his life. His mind began to whirl and he screamed in frustration. 

Hermione fell onto her bed, still laughing. She sat up as she heard Draco scream, but was knocked over onto her back by the door exploding inward. Pieces of wood and sawdust flew everywhere, showering her with sharp little splinters. She sat up slowly, not knowing what to expect. There in the doorway was Draco. He was breathing heavy, his face was flushed, his arms were at his sides and his hands were clenching and unclenching. The power coming from him was awesome. He was beautiful and frightening at the same time. She wanted him right then and there. 

He was on her in an instant. 

Harry, Lupin, Ron and Ginny had been walking for awhile. "Where the bloody hell are we?" Ron asked. "We should have seen something by now!" 

"Does something look strange to you?" Ginny asked, walking towards the bubble. She poked it with her finger. "Any idea what this is?" she said to Remus. 

"I would have to guess that it's some kind of protective barrier." 

"You think we can get through?" Harry asked, looking at the colors swirling over the bubble's surface. 

"We can try," Remus said. "Stand back!" he took out his wand and muttered some spell that had no effect what so ever. "Hmm..." 

An hour later, Ron was sitting on the ground, drawing pictures in the dirt with a stick and Ginny was throwing acorns and trying to hit an old tin can. Harry and Remus were still trying spells to break the barrier. 

"I don't understand!" Remus said, running his hand through his grey hair. "Nothing is working!" He went over and sat down next to Ron. 

"Perhaps the spells we know aren't the right ones. Maybe we need Dark Magic to get through." Harry said. 

"Right you are, Potter!" Snape said from the other side of the barrier. 

Lupin and Ron jumped up, brandishing their wands. Ginny pocketed her acorns and then joined them. Harry was already at the barrier, glaring at Snape with intense hatred. 

"Where is Hermione?" Harry said. 

"What makes you think I have the slightest idea where the little know- it -all is?" 

"Oh! So it's a coincidence that she follows this map, and then disappears. We go to look for her, also following the same map and run into you." Ron said, and then added. "You murdering asshole!" 

"Let us through, Severus. We just want Hermione back, unharmed." Remus put his wand away. 

Harry and Ginny looked at him like he had flipped his lid. "What are you doing?" Ginny whispered to him. 

"Trust me," he said to her. Turning back to Severus and his unknown companion he said, "Take me instead. Let Hermione go and take me." 

Snape goggled at him and then laughed his ass off. "Take you? Take you where?" 

"To Voldemort." 

"Why would I do that?" 

Remus sighed. "Because I belong to the Order. Because I have information he wants." 

"You have no information that he wants. Potter, on the other hand, does. The Dark Lord is VERY interested in where young Potter goes and what he's looking for! Snape put his face up to the barrier. "I'll trade Potter for the Granger girl." 

Harry squared his shoulders. "Fine! Take me." 

Ginny said "No!" Ron stepped in front of Harry and Remus narrowed his eyes at Snape. 

"Come on Severus! Enough of this! We're wasting precious time!" Snape's friend said. 

Remus looked more closely at the ragged man and then put his hand over his mouth in shock. "It can't be! But you're dead!" 

"Oh it is me, Remus. I'm alive and well." 

"Who are you?" Harry asked, curiously. 

"I'm Regulus Black, former dead brother of your precious Godfather." 

"What?" Ron said loudly. "This is a joke right?" He looked from Snape to Regulus. 

"Afraid not, Weasley." Snape said. "Now listen all of you. There are some things we need to clear up. I will not let you through until you hear me out." 

"I don't want to 'hear you out'! I want you to let me through! Do you have Hermione?" Harry was fuming with anger and wanted nothing more than to rip Snape's head off and kick it into the trees. 

Snape smirked. "I have something that's even more important to you than Granger." 

"Nothing is more important than getting her back!" 

"I have the locket you're looking for." 

Silence greeted this statement. 

"I have the Horcrux that Regulus stole so many years ago. The locket that Kreacher took from the trash and gave to Narcissa, who then sent it to her only son, who at his very moment is trapped in a prison with your precious Hermione!" 

Harry felt as though someone had punched him in the stomach. All the breath left his body and his vision turned dark. 

"Now you WILL listen to me! We have very little time." Snape began to tell them everything. 

Harry was more than a little confused and he wasn't the only one. "But how did you even know that Voldemort made the Horcruxs? And how do you know where they are?" Ginny asked in a high pitched voice. 

"I'd rather not say." 

"You'd rather NOT SAY!?!" Ron was beside himself with anger. 

"Ron, shut up!" Harry said. He glared at Snape. "Are you telling me that we should believe that Dumbledore asked you to go ahead and kill him just so Malfoy would remain innocent?" 

"Yes." 

"Severus! Come on now! This all seems so... so ridiculous!" Remus chuckled. "You don't honestly think we can believe a word you say! Lying is your second nature. How else could you have fooled Dumbledore?" 

"I may be a lot of things Lupin, but a liar I'm not!" Snape tried to look dignified. "I have never lied to Dumbledore! I remain faithful to him still!" 

Ginny took Harry by the arm and led him away. "Harry, we have no choice. We have to believe him. Or pretend to, anyway. It's the only way to get to Hermione." 

Harry knew she was right. "All right Snape. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. I give you my word that neither I nor my friends will harm you or Regulus. Just take us to Hermione." 

Snape held out his wand, muttered a spell and the barrier melted away. "Follow me." 

Draco knelt over her, looking so damn sexy that she could hardly stand it. She reached out, grabbed the front of his shirt and ripped it open, exposing his well toned upper body. She ran her hands over the smooth skin, never breaking eye contact with him. His chest rose and fell with his heavy breathing. He was as silent as the grave, all he had to say was expressed in his eyes. He loved her, desired her. 

She sat up a little and he pulled her in close. "I..." she started to say, but was hushed by his finger being lightly placed on her lips. His beautiful grey eyes were the color of a crisp winter morning and she found herself staring, mesmerized by the reflection of herself in them. 

Draco was fighting for control. Control of his emotions and control of his heart. He craved this girl like he craved a cold glass of lemonade on a scorching hot day. He wanted desperately to tell her how much he needed her, wanted her and most of all, how much he loved her. He wanted to stay here, forever, just the two of them. 

Hermione saw something stir behind his eyes and watched in disbelief as they welled up with tears and he began to cry. She sat up all the way and embraced him. "Shh. It's all right." She held him while he sobbed. "It's your mother, isn't it?" It was heartbreaking to see him like this and before she knew it, she was crying too. 

He pulled away and searched her face. "No. It's you." 

"Me?" 

"Hermione, I love you." He pulled her in and kissed her, his tears mixing with hers. 

Snape was walking in front followed by Harry Ron and Ginny. Remus and Regulus brought up the rear. They were talking and laughing like old friends. 

"Would the two of you shut up!" Snape said, looking back at them. "There are still Death Eaters around and not to mention a lunatic Dark Lord bent on revenge, murder and destruction. Be quiet!" 

He turned back around and began to walk again. Ginny took out an acorn from her pocket and with a grin at Harry and Ron, she threw it with all her might at the back of Snape's head. 

"Ow! What the hell?" He stopped in his tracks and rubbed the back of his greasy head. He whirled around and glared at them. "Who did it?" 

They all looked at him and smiled. 

"If anyone even so much as pegs me in the ass with a blade of grass, I'll take that person and..." his threat was cut off by a huge amount of bird shit falling on his shoulder. "Not one word!" he said to their laughing faces. He turned around sharply and stalked away, brushing the droppings from his cloak. 

"That was priceless!" Ron said, doubled over in hysterics. 

"It reminds me of a poem I once heard," Regulus said. "Birdie birdie in the sky, drop your cargo in my eye. Don't you worry. Don't you cry. I'm just glad that cows can't fly!" 

Remus now joined in the laughter. "I wish James and Sirius could have seen that! How they would have loved it!" 

The merriment ceased. Remus looked around, the smile slowly slid from his face. "Sorry. I wasn't thinking." He glanced around. "Um...shall we go then?" He walked past Harry and led the way. 

"This is your house?" Ron asked Regulus, taking in the falling down porch, the shutters that were askew and the bloated dog corpse. "I thought my house was a dump!" 

Regulus frowned at Ron. "Shall we go in?" He asked Snape, who was standing and looking at the house with his head cocked as if listening. 

Snape wore a curiously satisfied look on his face as he answered. "Why don't I take Potter inside first? I'm sure Granger will be very... surprised to see her hero." 

Everyone protested. Harry however walked up onto the porch and grasped the handle. The arguing abruptly stopped as the door swung open. 

Hermione kissed Draco, peeling his shirt off as his hands worked furiously to remove her pants. He tore his swollen lips away from hers and in frustration, ripped the clothes from her body. 

"Mmmm.You're so beautiful," he said, kissing her neck, sending shivers down her body. She moaned as his hand slid in between her legs and she spread them wider to allow better access. 

He rubbed her gently, dipping his fingers in and out, making her mew like a kitten. When he replaced his hand with his tongue, she almost screamed out in pleasure. When she began to lift her hips off the bed and grind her herself into his face, he clamped on and sucked, making her grasp the sheet and beg for him to stop. Her entire body shook as the most intense orgasm ignited every nerve ending in her body. 

Hermione sank back down into the bedding, trying to consentrate on her breathing, so she wouldn't pass out. Draco removed the rest of his clothes and crawled onto the bed. Hermione rolled towards him and brushed the wet hair from his flushed forehead. "Make love to me," she whispered into his lips. 

Draco twisted his fingers in her wild frizzy hair and smashed his mouth down on hers, driving his tongue into her mouth. She rolled him on top of her, wrapping her long legs around his back. He plunged his cock into her, making her eyes roll back into her head with pleasure. "Harder!" she said, grabbing his ass and pushing him into her. 

Harry quietly made his way through the door and paused, looking around at the posh decor. He raised his eyebrow at Snape who just shrugged. He turned to the others, who were waiting impatiently outside. "I think it's safe to come..." There was a loud moan and what sounded like a safe being dropped from a tall building. "What was that?" Harry said to Snape. 

"Harry! Harry what's wrong?" Ginny said, heading for the porch. Harry motioned for her stay put and with his wand pointed, he headed for the stairs. 

Draco was pounding into her so hard that the bed was moving and with his final thrust, it came crashing down. He collapsed on top of Hermione, still inside of her. She was laughing. "What's so funny?" he asked, with a smile. 

"I can't believe we broke the bed!" 

Harry tred lightly on the worn steps and stopped, concerned, when he saw that some of them were missing. Snape was standing at the bottom, looking up at him in glee. "What the hell are you smiling at?" Harry said angrily. 

"Oh nothing," Severus said. 

Harry gave him one last look of disgust and jumped over the hole. "He now heard laughter and people talking. Slowly he made his way to the broken door of Hermione's room. He aimed his wand in front of him, not sure what he would find. 

Draco leaned in and kissed Hermione passionately. "I love you, Granger." 

"I love you to, Malfoy," she said and slapped him on the bare ass. 

"WHAT THE BLOODY HELL IS THIS!!!" they heard Harry scream from the busted doorway. 

Draco looked over at the red faced angry boy. "Hello Potter! Have you met my 'fetch'?" 

Suddenly Harry was punched in the face and he blacked out.


	16. 16

  
Author's notes: Someone gets caught with their pants down and Harry gets a booboo.  


* * *

Ginny raced into the house, closely followed by Ron and Remus. "What happened?" she asked Snape, who was wearing a shit-eating grin. When he didn't answer, she shoved him aside and the three of them ran up the stairs, being careful not to fall through the hole. 

They saw the broken pieces of wood in the hallway and Harry's lifeless body lying halfway out of the doorway. "Harry!" Ginny ran and knelt down beside him. 

Remus and Ron aimed their wands and walked through the door. 

"Draco! Why'd you do that?" Hermione said, jumping out of the bed and trying to find her clothes. 

"I don't know! He should of knocked!" 

"On what? You broke the damn door, remember?" she gave up and wished an outfit instead. A pair of dark blue jeans and an emerald colored turtle neck sweater appeared on her body. "Get up and get dressed! He's probably not alone!" 

Draco smirked. "I'm not putting anything on. I want to be lying here, nude, on a broken bed when the rest of the Order gets here. I want them to know exactly what you and I have been doing." 

Hermione went over to him and pulled on his arm, trying to get him off the bed. "Please!" 

Draco laughed and pulled her down on top of himself. She struggled and swore at him. "I love it when you fight, Granger! Look what your doing!" He took her hand and put it on his growing erection. She stopped fighting and looked towards the door as Ginny yelled and fell onto the floor next to Harry. 

"And what is the meaning of this?" Remus asked in an amused voice. He saw Hermione, lying on top of a naked and clearly aroused Draco... this alone was enough to give him an apoplectic seizure; but the fact that her hand was wrapped around his penis, now that was totally unexpected. 

Ron stood in the doorway, his wand hand slowly fell, as did his jaw. He looked like a dying carp. He was so upset that he couldn't move or speak. 

"I think Weasley's brain is going to explode." Draco said, pulling Hermione into a deep kiss. She was stunned and just let him kiss her. 

This was to much for Ron and he fell over in a faint, landing next to Harry. 

"Severus! I can't believe you would stoop so low! You knew perfectly well what those two were doing and still, you let that Potter boy go up there!" Regulus was standing at the bottom of the staircase, holding into the banister and shaking his head. "How very juvenile of you!" 

Snape looked over at Black and sneered. "Juvenile but fun. I've never been more satisfied in my life." 

Regulus smiled. "Not even when James caught you kissing Lilly? Or when Lucius walked in on you and Narcissa? If I live to be a hundred, I'll never understand how you did it." 

Snape grinned. "I'm a smooth talker, what can I say?" His grin widened as he heard Weasley's body hit the floor and Ginny scream. 

Ginny looked up as Ron fell and saw Draco's Doppleganger walking towards them, with his hand out. She screamed and clutched Harry, who's eyes flew open. 

"What the he..." he said, trying to sit up. He saw the 'fetch' coming and scooted back out into the hallway. "Run Ginny!" Ginny couldn't move. They both watched as the other Draco walked up to Remus and shook his hand. 

Remus glanced over at Hermione, who was now standing, looking a little frightened. He saw Draco get out of the bed, close his eyes and suddenly be clothed. He looked back at the 'fetch', stuck out his hand and gasped. The Doppleganger's skin was warm to the touch, just like a real living being. Remus asked, in a confused voice, "Is this your twin, Draco?" 

"I'm not his twin. I'm something else. Something that lives within him, a part of his subconscience that he can project." 

Remus slowly let out the breath he was holding. "A Doppleganger? But how is it that you're so... substantial?" He let go of the thing's hand and caressed the side of it's face. "I can actually feel stubble." He put his ear to it's chest. "I can hear a heart beat! How is this possible?" 

Snape appeared in the doorway with Regulus. Ginny helped Harry get to his feet and they also entered the room. "It's because the boy's mind is so powerful, Lupin. He can make this Doppleganger of his seem totally real. It can walk, breath, talk and apparently... it can have sex as well." Snape gave Hermione a smirk. He was pleased that she blushed to the roots of her bushy hair. "Isn't that right Miss Granger?" 

Ginny was so shocked that she let go of Harry, who slid to the floor once more and just sat there. "Hermione, tell me you haven't... haven't... done the 'deed' with a ghost?" Ginny asked looking over at the 'fetch'. "I mean well, I wouldn't blame you, he is quite good looking and all." 

Harry glared at Ginny. "That thing looks just like Malfoy! Are you saying you think MALFOY is good looking?" He stood up, anger snapping from his green eyes. Snape was chuckling under his breath. Hermione was frowning and Draco was looking like he just won the lottery. 

"I never knew you fancied me, Weaslette. Knew you couldn't have me so you settled for Potter instead?" As Draco laughed, he was knocked over by Harry, who had charged at him. 

"I'll kill you, you freak!" Harry yelled, punching Draco in the jaw. He pulled back his arm to hit him again, but was lifted off his feet and thrown across the room. 

"No!" Ginny and Hermione screamed together as the Doppleganger stalked over to Harry and prepared to do him further harm. It kicked him and punched him in the head, making everyone cringe. 

"Draco please call him off!" Hermione said, tears spilling down her face. 

He concentrated with all his mind and willed the 'fetch' to go away. When at last he opened his eyes, it was gone and everyone was staring at him in amazement. Harry was lying in a pool of blood, injured but still breathing. 

"What the bloody hell is Hermione doing with Malfoy?" Ron said from the floor. 

"I think we have more pressing questions than that, Mr. Weasley," Remus said, his hands shaking.


	17. 17

  
Author's notes: Ron and Hermione have a little talk and Harry decides to destroy the locket.  


* * *

Later that evening, everyone sat around the kitchen table, eating a meal that Hermione and Draco had prepared for them. Harry's head was still pounding even though Snape had tried his best to heal him. He glanced across the table at Malfoy, who was sipping a glass of white wine and looking at Hermione with such love that it almost made him puke. 

Draco noticed him staring. "Something wrong Potter?" 

"How long has this...," he waved his hand at Hermione and Draco, "been going on?" 

Everyone stopped their conversations and listened with rapt attention. 

Hermione shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "Well, Harry, you see..." She looked around at everyone. "It happened last summer." 

"Last summer?" Harry said. "You've been screwing him all this time? Even when you were with Ron?" 

Ron choked on his crab alfredo. "What?" He reached across the table and grabbed Draco by the front of his shirt. 

"I suggest you take your filthy hands off me, Weasley," Draco said in a calm voice filled with malice. "We never slept together while you were with her. Even though I'm sure she pretended she was with me every time you had sex." Draco smirked at him. 

"Ron, let him go," Hermione said. "Let me explain." 

Ron looked at her in disgust and reluctantly let go of Draco. He sat back in his chair, crossed his arms over his chest and stared at the floor. 

Hermione took a deep breath and told them about last summer. "So you see, I fell in love with him that night. I never knew he felt the same way, until today. I'm sorry if this comes as a shock to all of you, I can't really believe it myself." 

Ginny leaned in and put her elbows on the table. "If you loved each other so much, why hide it last year? Why go out with my brother? Did you even ever love Ron?" 

Hermione sighed. "Yes, Ginny, I really did love Ron and I still do, just not in the same he loves me. I tried to make it work, I really did! But I was in love with someone else!" 

Harry was livid. "Tried? You gave it all of two weeks! Why didn't you just tell him the truth in the beginning? Why didn't you tell him about Malfoy? Look what you've done to him!" 

Hermione started to cry. "I'm really sorry Ron, I never meant to hurt you! I never meant for any of this to happen." 

Ron said nothing but got up from the table and silently left the room. Hermione ran after him. 

"Ah! The intrigue of teen romance! Such passion! Such lust! Such utter stupid nonsense!" Snape said, tipping his head back and draining his glass of wine. "I'm glad I was never involved in scandalous affairs or debauchery of any kind!" He looked at Regulus and Remus and all three bursted out in laughter. 

"What's so funny?" Draco asked. 

Regulus wiped the tears from his eyes. "What so funny is Severus saying he was never involved in a scandalous affair!" 

Ginny, who loved to hear about other people's sex lives, said with glee, "Oh do tell, do tell!" 

Snape gave Regulus a warning look that was ignored. "Severus here is a regular Casanova! He's had many illicit affairs with married women, including Draco's mother!" 

"You slept with my mother?" Draco curled his upper lip in clear distaste. "She must have been drunk!" 

"Or she's a whore!" Harry said. 

The Doppleganger appeared right behind Draco, looking murderous. "I suggest you apologize, Potter. In case you didn't know, his mother is dead, killed by Voldemort," it said. 

Harry's mouth fell open. "What? Dead?" He turned to Draco for confirmation. Draco nodded his head. "I... I'm sorry." Harry didn't know what else to say. 

"Don't worry, Potter, at least now we have something in common." 

Out in the living room, Hermione was trying to talk to Ron, without much luck. "Ron, I really am sorry!" She tried to pry his hands away from his face. "I should of told you I was in love with some one else, it wasn't fair to you." 

Ron looked at her at last. "How could you choose him over me? After everything he's done to us, how can you love him?" 

Hermione tried to explain. "It just happened, Ron. He's nothing like we thought he was. He's misunderstood." 

Ron laughed. "Misunderstood? I have no trouble understanding what a horrible slimy bastard he is! He's done everything he could to make my life a living hell, including almost killing me, I understand him perfectly well. What I don't understand is how you can know all of that and still be with him." 

"We have no say about who we fall in love with, Ron. It just happens. Fate steps in and makes a choice. I love him and I hope you can come to accept that. I would hate to loose you or Harry over this, you're my best friends." She kissed his cheek and went up to her room. 

Ron sat for awhile and listened to the talk and laughter coming from the kitchen. His heart was broken. He had thought for sure that Hermione was his soul mate, that eventually, she would find her way back to him. It looked like that was never going to happen. He would have to spend the rest of his life watching Malfoy holding her hand, kissing her soft lips, buying her expensive gifts that he could never afford. Could he still be her friend and watch all of this happen? He sighed, ran his hands through his flaming hair, slowly got up and made his way back into the kitchen. 

"So you see, James came around the corner and there, right next to the Gryffindor Hour Glass, was Snape, snogging the hell out of Lilly!" Remus said, laughing. 

Ron took the empty seat next to Remus and tried to act as though his heart wasn't shattered into a million tiny fragments. 

"Not really!" Ginny said in shock. "You and Harry's mum?" 

"It was all a plot to make Potter jealous," Snape said. "After all, Lilly was one of my good friends. We spent a lot of time together in Potions and at Slughorn's parties. She and Potter had been going out for a while and she got it in her head that he was going to break up with her to go out with this other girl. Of course this was all her imagination and I knew it. When she came to me and asked me to help her, I jumped at the chance!" 

"I'm sure you did!" Harry said angrily. "Liked her didn't you? Had a massive crush on my mum? Is that why you hated my father so much?" 

Snape sneered at Harry. "For your information, smartass, I never loved Lilly." 

"Then who was it that you loved?" Draco asked. "Who was the woman you were talking about earlier before you left, the one you said died before you could tell her that you loved her. If it wasn't Potter's mum, then who was it?" 

Snape tore his eyes away from Harry's and said to Draco, "It was YOUR mother. I loved YOUR mother, Draco." 

Hermione repaired her bedroom door and the broken bed, took off her clothes and got into the shower. After toweling off and putting on her robe, she went over to the safe. She was just about to open it when Ginny knocked on the door. 

"Can I talk to you?" she said, entering the room and sitting down on the bed. "Nice room. You thought of all this?" 

Hermione sat down next to her. "Yes. And was it ever a shock when I ran in here and saw it all." 

Ginny laid back on the comfy bed. "So. You and Malfoy. Didn't see that one coming!" 

Hermione smiled. "How is Ron?" 

"He's acting like this is all fine with him, like he doesn't care that you're with Malfoy. We both know that's not true." 

"You know Ginny, everyone better get used to it, because this is the real thing." 

Ginny rolled over to look at her. "Are you saying that you and Malfoy are going to get married and live happily ever after?" 

"Possibly." 

"But this is MALFOY we're talking about! He's arrogant, devious, evil immature..." 

"And sexy, funny, smart, creative, a good cook and an excellent lover," Hermione finished. 

Ginny grinned. "Is he really? An excellent lover, I mean?" 

Hermione raised her eyebrow and whispered. "You have no idea!" 

"What about his 'fetch', as you call it. What kind of lover is it?" 

Hermione rolled her eyes. "I didn't have sex with it, I just let it finger me a bit. I didn't even know it wasn't Draco!" 

There was another knock at the door. "Snape wants to see everyone down in the livingroom," Harry said, opening the door a crack. "And bring the locket." 

"But Severus, you said yourself that Voldemort is after him, how can you even suggest sending him out like this?" Remus was pacing the floor, looking very agitated. 

"Potter is the only one now who can destroy a Horcrux. Do you expect Regulus to locate them all, bring them back here and then have Potter destroy them? That's a lot of coming and going from this house. I need to keep Mr. Malfoy safe. Could you imagine if the Dark Lord got a hold of him?" 

Ron interrupted, "Harry has been looking all summer and nothing has happened. He can take care of himself. I'll go with him." 

Harry, Ginny and Hermione came down the stairs. "Go where with whom?" Ginny asked. 

"With Harry and Regulus." 

"On the 'Great Horcrux Hunt'?" Ginny said. "No way!" 

"You can't tell me what to do! I'll go if I want! I'm not staying here, locked up with him!" Ron pointed at Draco. "I'm going and that's that." 

"We'll see," Remus said. Ron gave him a dirty look. "We can discuss who's going where later. Right now, we need to take care of this Horcrux." 

"May I?" Regulus said to Harry, holding out his hand. Harry put the locket gently into his palm. "It's a lot heavier than I remember." He held it up by the chain and it flashed in the firelight. "To think that something this small contains a tiny portion of the Dark Lord's soul! Amazing!" 

"Yes, wonderful. Now give it to Potter so he can destroy it and make us one step closer to victory!" Snape said impatiently. 

"How does Potter even know how to do this?" Draco asked. "Was he born with this knowledge because he's the 'Chosen One?' What if this doesn't work?" 

"Dumbledore's portrait in the Headmaster's office told me what to do." Harry said with a grin. "I've been making visits there at least once a week." Harry took the Horcrux from Regulus. "He also left me his Penseive, which has access to all his memories. They were very helpful, to say the least." He laid the locket on the floor, everyone moved back. "Remember Grindlewald? The Dark Wizard Dumbledore defeated?" 

Hermione's eyes got huge. "You mean that Grindlewald also had a Horcrux and that Dumbledore defeated him this same way?" 

"Lucky bloke, he had only one Horcrux to get rid of, we have six." Regulus said. 

Harry laughed. "You mean three. Dumbledore destroyed the ring, I've already destroyed the diary and now I'm going to destroy this locket , that leaves three plus the piece of soul that resides in Voldemort. Three Horcruxs' to get rid of, and then I can kill Voldemort for good." Harry took out his wand. 

Everyone looked around, slightly uneasy. Snape waved his hand, releasing the spell around the house. "Everyone needs to be prepared. I'm not exactly sure what is going to happen. Each Horcrux responds differently when destroyed. The ring would not come off Dumbledore's hand. He had to destroy it while wearing it. This is why his hand was dead and blackened. It would have continued up his arm and spread to his entire body had I not been able to stop it. He would have been alive inside of a burned and shriveled body. If you are too frightened to stay here, I suggest you leave the premises." 

Hermione took Draco's hand. He gave it a reassuring squeeze. Ron put his arm around Ginny, who was shaking. Remus and Regulus could barely contain their excitement. 

Snape nodded at Harry. "When you're ready Potter." 

Harry took aim, closed his eyes and ...


	18. 18

  
Author's notes: Harry makes a mistake and Snape pays for it.  


* * *

The was a huge explosion, plaster fell from the ceiling, the wall caved in and the furniture flew into the air. Someone screamed and then there was silence. 

Harry got to his knees, coughing and gasping for air. "Is everyone all right?" he managed to choke out. Someone grabbed his leg and pulled themselves up. It was Draco. 

"God Potter! Are you trying to kill us all?" Draco's hair was covered in plaster and he could barely see. He tried to wave the dust from the air, but it was to thick. "Hermione! Are you all right?" He fell to the floor and felt around, lifting chunks of the ceiling out of his way. "This is fucking stupid!" he yelled, snatching Harry's wand from his hand and cleared the dust and smoke from the air with a wave. 

"Ginny!" Harry screamed, seeing her lying on her back under what had been the piano. "Help me!" he implored. 

Draco ran over, lifted up the piano enough so that Harry could pull Ginny from out from under it. "Ginny! Oh my God! I've killed her!" Harry said in anguish. Draco knelt down next to her and felt for a pulse. 

"She's alive Potter, no thanks to your half-assed spell casting abilities!" 

"Draco?" Hermione said, crawling out from under the over turned sofa. "Is everyone okay?" Her hair was standing out all over her head, making her look like Medusa. 

Draco laughed, grabbed her and hugged her tightly. "You're okay. That's all that matters." 

Ron groaned and tried to sit up. He was disoriented and confused. Something was lying on top of him, making it difficult to move. He picked up his arm painfully and ran his fingers over the weight. He screeched when he realized it was someone's hair. "Help!" he said in a panic, looking over and noticing that he was lying on the edge of a huge hole in the floor. 

Hermione and Draco ran to him and managed to pry the unconscious body of Snape from on top of Ron. Hermione flipped Snape over and felt his wrist. "Well what do you know! It seems that Snape has a heart after all!" 

Draco helped Ron to his feet and together they rescued Remus and Regulus, who were buried under a section of the wall that had collapsed. 

"Is she..." Remus said, looking at Harry, who was holding Ginny and crying. Ginny's eyes fluttered open and she smiled up at Harry. 

"Am I dead?" she asked. 

"No. You're very much alive," Harry said, kissing her forehead. 

"She's fine. Snape is a little beat up, but everyone is all right." Draco said. 

"Snape is NOT fine!" Regulus said, getting to his feet. "Look what's around his neck!" 

Everyone walked curiously over to Severus and looked down. 

"I don't fucking believe it!" 

"Well isn't that a bitch!" 

"I KNEW Potter didn't know what he was doing!" 

"This complicates matters," Remus said, shaking his head in disbelief. 

Harry bent down, and tugged at the locket that was now around Snape's neck. As he pulled, the chain shortened and became red hot to the touch. "What the fu...!" he said, removing his burned fingers and sticking them into this mouth. "How are we supposed to get that off him?" 

"We?" Draco said with a frown. "I don't want any part of this! I don't plan on blowing myself up ever again, so you just go right a head and figure it by your self, Potter. This doesn't concern me." 

Ron pushed him angrily, and got in his face. "It's a little to late to back out now. Like it or not, Malfoy, you ARE a part of this! This does concern you, it concerns us all. Do you want Voldemort to kill you or Hermione? He's already murdered your mum, and countless others. It's up to us...ALL OF US...to do our part." 

Draco shoved him. He wanted to kill the freckled freak, but Hermione held him back. 

"Well said Ron," Regulus said, slapping him on the back. Ron looked extremely happy and glanced at Hermione to see if she was pleased with him. His smile faded when he saw she wasn't even paying attention. She was busy brushing dust from the front of Malfoy's shirt. He glared in hatred as Malfoy smirked at him. 

On the floor, Snape began to groan. He suddenly sat up and looked around. "Is it destroyed?" He staggered to his feet, almost falling into the massive hole in the floor. "Well? Is it?" No one answered. "What the hell is wrong with all of you?" he asked. 

Draco grinned. "Well, sir, it seems that Potter here as gone and made matters worse rather than better." He pointed to Snape's neck. 

"What?" Snape reached up and grabbed the locket. It sizzled and he immediately let go of it. He walked over to the cracked mirror on the wall by the front door and gasped. Instantly, he produced gloves for his hands and pulled at the chain. It wouldn't break and it was way to short to go over his head. "This...is...just...unbelievable!!!!" He spun around and Harry could have sworn that fire shot from his eyes. "You! Potter! You had better find a way to fix this!" 

"But sir, I..." 

Harry was cut off as Snape and Regulus both screamed and grabbed their left arms. "Shit! Shit! Shit!" Snape said looking at his Dark Mark. "I have to go, the Dark Lord is summoning me. I have little time, so listen closely. Potter, you must go with Regulus. Talk to Dumbledore's Portrait again, ask him what went wrong." He turned to Remus. "Lupin, you must return to Headquarters and explain to them what's going on. Tell them everything, make them believe you!" He glanced around at the others. "The rest of you need to stay put. You will be safe here. I shall return soon. The barrier will be down for twelve hours, I hope you are able to return during that time." 

Everyone left in a hurry. Harry gave Ginny a kiss goodbye and quickly disapparated with Regulus. Snape waved his wand as he walked out the door, placing the spell back onto the house. He walked down the rickety front steps, head held high, courage oozing from every pore. He prepared himself to lie to the Dark Lord. Lifting his collar high, to cover the locket, he disapparated. 

"I sure hope Voldemort doesn't notice Snape's wearing that Horcrux." Ginny said, looking out the window. 

"Who wants a drink?" Draco asked cheerfully. A bottle of vodka popped into his hand. 

"I think I'll go look around a bit," Ron said, ignoring Draco. 

I'm going to go and try to get some sleep," Ginny said, shooting Hermione a devious smile. "Give you some alone time together." She stopped at the hole and looked down into the cellar. "I should probably fix this. Do I just close my eyes and wish for it to be back the way it was?" she asked. 

"Yep." Draco said, opening the bottle and taking a sip. 

Ginny shut her eyes and tried to picture the room the way it was before the explosion. When she opened them, everything was back to normal. "This power is amazing! Imagine what we could wish for!" She walked up the stairs with a dreamy look on her face. "Do you mind if I take your room, Malfoy?" 

"I guess you can. I see no reason Hermione and I need separate rooms anymore." Draco pinched Hermione on the backside, making her jump. "Right lover?" 

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Have a good night, Gin!" 

"I think I'll go show our guest around," Draco said with a smirk. 

"You better behave your self." 

"Don't worry. I just want to talk to him." He said, handing her the bottle and heading for the kitchen. Hermione took a swig and sat down on the sofa, where she soon fell asleep. 

Ginny went to Draco's room, which changed as soon as she walked through the door. It became a beautiful garden with colorful flowers and bubbling fountains. In the middle of the garden was a canopy bed, just like she always dreamed of having. She climbed under the white satin sheets and closed her eyes. 

The lights came on as Ron walked down the cellar stairs. He looked around, his eye catching the model of Hogsmead. "What the bloody hell is this?" he said in wonder. He picked up the little figure of the barman from the HogsHead. "This is amazing! who could of done this?" His first thought was Regulus. After all, it was his house. Somehow Regulus didn't seem like the type to make a master piece out of match sticks. That left only Malfoy. He was impressed despite his dislike for the guy. 

"Like my village, Weasley?" Draco said, making Ron jump. "Pretty good likeness wouldn't you say?" Draco walked over to the table. 

"I didn't hear you come down," Ron said, annoyed by Malfoy's presence. "Are you really Malfoy?" He had a sneaking suspicion that he was talking to the 'fetch'. "Tell me something only Malfoy would know." 

"Weasley. Even if I was the 'fetch', which I'm not, I would know everything that my true self knows. We are one and the same." 

Ron looked confused. "Whatever. I'm leaving." He put down the matchstick barman and turned to go. 

"You're not going anywhere until you hear what I have to say, Weasley." Draco put his hand on Ron's chest. "Hermione is with me now. I will not tolerate you looking at her like you do." 

Ron clenched his teeth. "So now I can't look at her? What's next? I can't talk to her or breath the same air as she does?" 

"You know what I mean, Weasel. I see the way you look at her. I know you still love her. She is mine and I won't have you mooning over her like some love sick poodle. Get over it and move on. How long do you think she'll put up with you sulking about your poor broken heart before she decides that enough is enough? For some reason, she values your friendship. You're going to drive her away if you don't accept the fact that she chose me over you. You weren't man enough to drive the thoughts of me from her mind. How's it feel to be second best to me, Weasley? I forgot, you're used to being second best aren't you?" 

"I hate you Malfoy. Someday when Hermione realizes what an asshole you still are, I'll be here waiting for her. Waiting to take her back. We'll see who wins in the end. Sooner or later you're going to screw up and that's when I'll get my chance. I can't wait for that day to come. She'll be mine again and you'll be the one alone, wishing you could turn back time!" 

Draco grabbed the front of his shirt and knocked him up against the table. The model of Hogswarts shook and almost toppled over. "I'll never do anything to make her leave me! I love her and whether you like it or not, she loves me too! Now heed my advice and stay the fuck away from her!" 

They both looked at the ceiling as Ginny's scream echoed through the house. 

Ginny was dreaming. She was floating on a cloud. Her light blue silky gown felt wonderful against her bare skin. She had never felt so relaxed or so sensual. There was a wonderful scent lingering in the air, almost like rain and roses. 

As she lay there, she suddenly felt the light touches of someone's soft finger tips. They slid the soft fabric of her gown up until her naked thighs and stomach were exposed. She moaned as kisses as light as feathers were trailed over her hot skin. 

Her legs were gently pulled wider and a tongue slid into pussy. It licked and sucked, making her shiver. It was the most delicious feeling in the world. The tongue slid out of her with one last intimate kiss and she now felt her dream lover hovering over her. It entered her gently, making her toes and fingers curl in ecstasy. Slowly she opened her eyes. Expecting to see Harry, she was totally shocked to see Draco. He smiled at her and leaned in to kiss her. She screamed with all her might and jumped out of her bed, wrapping the sheet around her. 

The door burst open and Ron, Hermione and Draco stumbled in. "Holy Hell!" Draco said, seeing his Doppleganger naked and lying on Ginny's bed. 

"What is going on?" Ron asked, clearly disgusted. 

Ginny ran over to them and clutched Ron's arm. "That thing! It was trying to have sex with me!" 

Draco smirked. "Are you sure didn't wish for it to happen? That's the only way it could have been doing what it was doing." 

Ginny turned scarlet. "I...wh...I would NEVER wish something like that!" 

"Sure you wouldn't!" Draco said, winking at her. "Wanted to see how it would feel to fuck a 'fetch' did you?" 

"There wasn't any 'fetch fucking' going on! I was asleep and it just sort of...attacked me!" Ginny said angrily. 

The Doppleganger got off the bed and walked over to Ginny. "I came because you wished for me to come. I pleasured you because you wished for me to pleasure you. Tell me you didn't like it." It planted a kiss on her cheek and then faded away. 

Ginny gaped at the spot where it had been a moment before. She looked around at all the shocked faces. "So what if it's true! Hermione told me that that thing fingered her and I wanted to see what it would feel like!" She tried to rub the kiss off her cheek. 

"Are you sure that's it? You don't secretly fancy Malfoy and would stoop so low as to have sex with his spirit look a like would you?" Ron's face was the color of plum tomatoes and smoke threatened to come from his ears at any moment. "What is Harry going to say about this?" 

Ginny started to cry. "Please don't say anything to Harry! Swear you won't tell him!" 

Hermione hugged her and smoothed back her hair from her splotchy face. "I won't say anything Ginny. It's not my place. I think that you do need to be honest with Harry and tell him what happened." 

"But he'll kill me!" Ginny wailed. "Now he'll never take me back!" 

Hermione looked at Draco. "Promise you won't say anything to Harry." 

Draco looked crushed, like someone had taken away his favorite toy. "But this is great blackmail material!" He saw Hermione's dead serious face and caved. "Fine, I won't say a word about her torrid affair with a non entity. Does it even count? The thing isn't even really alive!" 

"As far as I'm concerned, this never happened," Ron said. "It was a dream, that's all. Now I suggest we all get some sleep. We have a busy day ahead of us." He turned to Ginny. "Do you want me to stay in here with you?" 

"Please." 

"Fine," he said and made a sofa appear. "I'll be right here if you need me." 

Hermione gave Ginny one last hug and then she and Draco left. They walked to Hermione's room and as soon as the door closed behind them, they were all over each other. 

Snape tried to concentrate on hiding his thoughts. It was hard to not think about the damn Horcrux that was slowly burning a hole through his sweater. He was desperate to leave this meeting and get back to the house. Sweat was running down his back as the Dark Lord stepped up to him. 

"What are you hiding from me, Snape?"


	19. 19

  
Author's notes: Voldemort is not a happy camper and Ron makes a new friend.  


* * *

Snape bowed low before Voldemort's feet. "I hide nothing from you, my Lord. My mind is an open book!" His heart was threatening to burst from his chest and he fought desperately to control it. 

"What took you so long Snape?" Voldemort pulled him to his feet and stared into his eyes. 

"I was drunk and passed out, my Lord" Snape flooded his mind with false images of himself tossing back a few and then passing out on the floor. The locket was becoming increasingly hot and he hoped his clothing didn't start to smolder. 

"Yes, you were always a bit of a drunk, weren't you, Snape?" Voldemort sneered at him, his red eyes becoming even smaller slits than usual. "WELL SOBER UP YOU SWEAT FROM A MONKEY'S ASS!" 

"Yes my Lord!" Snape said, letting out a breath as Voldemort now verbablly attacked Pettigrew for laughing at his remark. He barely heard Peter screaming as Voldemort hit him with the Cruciatus Curse. He needed to get out of here and soon. He didn't know how much longer he could last before the damn Horcrux started him on fire. 

"Voldemort laughed at Pettigrew withering and crying on the ground. "Now, what new information do we have on the where abouts of Draco Malfoy?" He looked around at his silent and quivering followers. "I WANT THAT BOY!!! IDON'T CARE WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO, ONE OF YOU BETTER FIND HIM!!" 

Snape decided that he had better make something up. "My Lord, I have questioned many witnesses and none have seen him. It's like he has completely vanished! I think he's dead." 

Voldemort whirled around at the sound of Snape's voice, his swirling robes upsetting the dust on the bare floor. "He is NOT dead! If you would have done your job and brought him to me I wouldn't have to do THIS!" He aimed his wand at Snape, whose eyes immediately began to bleed as pressure built up behind his skull. 

Snape screamed and clutched his head, which felt as though it was going to explode. He fell to his knees, begging for mercy. Blood spurted from his nose and ears. It was over as suddenly as it began. The pain and pressure subsided and the blood ceased to flow. He slowly and unsteadily got to his feet. "I take full responsibility for his escape, My Lord and I beg for your forgiveness!" 

Voldemort laughed cruelly. "Yes you are to blame, Severus. That is why it must be you who brings the boy to me. You had better not fail me again, or next time, I will crush your head like a wet dog turd!" 

"Yes My Lord." 

Voldemort asked about Harry next. "It is crucial that I find out where that boy is going and what he is doing! Fenrir!" He called to the werewolf. It's time you told Lupin you know of his double dealings. Threaten to kill him or that woman he loves. Make him tell you what he knows about Potter!" 

"Yes, My Lord!" Fenrir said, his tongue shooting out to lick his bloody teeth. "It will be a pleasure!" 

"You are all dismissed! Pettigrew! You stay here." Peter looked scared to death. 

Snape quickly left, and disapparated, appearing next to the barrier. It was still down and would have to stay down until all the others returned. He just hoped no one else found their way through. He heard the snapping of a twig behind him and he stood very still, listening. After a few seconds, he decided it must have been an animal and went on his way. 

"Pettigrew. I have a little job for you." Voldemort tapped his finger tips together. "Snape is acting a bit suspicious. I know that he has been seen in a wooded area that he used to frequent with that louse, Regulus Black, do you remember it?" Peter nodded his head. "He is up to something and I want you to find out what it is. Apparate to those woods and follow him!" 

"Yes My Lord!" Peter said with a bow and then popped out of sight. 

Voldemort sat down in his chair, a look of glee on his snake-like face. 

Harry and Regulus apparated to Hogsmead, the village was dark and desolate. They made their way silently to Hogwarts and stopped outside the gate. Harry raised his wand and shouted, "Expecto Patronum!" His Potronus erupted from the wand and took off to the castle. 

Minutes later, Filtch and Professor Mc Gonagall came running down the drive. "What is it Potter? What has happened?" She opened the gates and let the two of them through. "Who is...?" She started to ask and suddenly her hand went to her mouth. "It can't be!" 

Regulus gave her a wicked smile. "Tis I, Regulus Black. Alive and in person!" He gave her a saucy wink. 

Filtch caught Minerva as she passed out. 

They all carried her up to the Castle. She was now the Headmistress and occupied Dumbledore's old office, which she had not changed one iota since his death. They laid her on the sofa by the fire and Harry again pulled out his wand. "Enervate!" he said and she started to come around. 

Slowly she sat up and groggily looked around. When she saw Regulus, she gasped and crawled into the corner of the sofa, bringing her legs up under her. "Potter, what are you doing with him? How dare you bring him into the school!" 

"Professor! Please! I need to explain and I don't have a lot of time!" 

"I think you should hear the boy out, Minerva," Dumbledore's portrait said. "Go on Harry, explain everything." 

Harry told them everything, from Snape saying he was only doing what Dumbledore told him to do, to Draco's 'fetch', to the crazy house they were all staying in. He told them about Regulus and the Horcrux, and finally about said Horcrux being stuck around the neck of Snape. "So you see, something went wrong with the spell! I came to ask Dumbledore how to fix it." 

Dumbledore looked down at all of them, a somber expression on his face. "I'm afraid Harry, there is only one way to destroy the locket now." 

Everyone in the room was shocked at what Dumbledore informed them they must do. 

"Snape is not going to like this one bit!" Regulus said with wide eyes. 

"You're not kidding!" Harry said. "I actually feel bad for the asshole for the first time in my life." They exited the gates and disapparated, appearing at the barrier minutes after Snape left. Neither noticed the rat that scampered after them. 

Lupin walked through the door of Headquarters, and yelled for Arthur. Mr. Weasley ran into the room, followed by Molly and Bill. 

"Remus! What is it? Is it the boys? Where are they? They haven't been here all day!" 

Molly wiped her hands on her apron and snapped at Remus, "If you know something, you'd had better tell us, right now!" 

Remus leaned against the wall, trying to catch his breath. "I'll tell you everything, just let me rest for a second." He took a few deep breaths. "Shall we sit down? This might take awhile." He motioned towards the kitchen. 

They gave him bewildered looks, but followed him into the warm and apple pie smelling kitchen. Tonks, Fleur and Kingsley Shacklebolt were helping themselves to pie and ice cream. When Tonks saw Remus, she jumped up and embraced him. 

"I've been so worried! You left without saying where you were going! Didn't even bother to leave a note!" She scolded him. 

"I'll explain everything. After I have some pie." Molly cut a huge piece and sat it in front of him. He took a bite, said it was heavenly and then proceeded to tell them everything. 

"I don't believe it!" Molly said. 

"You honestly trust Snape? Look what he's done! He's a liar and a manipulator!" Bill said, slamming his hand down on the table. 

"We have no choice, Bill! We have to trust him and we have to trust Regulus as well." 

"Take us to ze house, let us talk with him ourselves." Fleur said, tossing her hair over her shoulder. 

Bill put his arm around her. You are not going anywhere! You, Tonks and Molly should stay here. That way, if other members of the Order come here, you can tell them what's going on." 

"You just want us to stay because we're women! I am an Auror for Merlin's sake!" Tonks said in anger. "I should go, right Shacklebolt?" 

Kingsley frowned. "I'm sorry, Tonks, but I agree with Bill. You should stay here." 

"Fine!" she said. "We'll stay here, but if I hear so much as a word of a battle or anything, I'm gone!" 

"Fair enough," Remus said and kissed her cheek. "Shall we go then?" 

Kingsley looked apprehensive. "Maybe I should go and try to locate Mad Eye and the others. They need to know what's going on." 

"That's a good idea, Shacklebolt," Bill said. "Shall we go then?" he asked his father and Remus. 

"I suppose," Arthur answered unenthusiastically. 

They appeared at the barrier about ten minutes after Harry and Regulus. 

Back at the house, Ginny was sleeping, Ron was lying on the sofa, wide awake and Draco and Hermione were ripping each other's clothes off. 

"You are so fucking beautiful!" Draco said, putting one of her nipples into his mouth and sucking hard. "I can't get enough of you!" He threw her down on the bed and pulled her pants and knickers off. He rolled her over and slapped her ass, making her yelp. Leaning in, he kissed and licked the soft flesh on her back. As he got lower and lower, Hermione's skin broke out in goosebumps. 

She moaned in pleasure as he spread her ass cheeks apart and slid his tongue into her. He kneaded her cheeks as his tongue danced in and out, sending tremors over her entire body. 

He stood up, leaving her feeling empty and more horny than she ever felt in her life. After removing the rest of his clothing, he climbed back onto the bed and lifted her hips so that she was on her hands and knees. There was something very lewd and sensual about this position. It was animalistic. It made her feel dirty and sexy at the same time. He pushed up against her, making her whimper with want. 

Hermione ground her ass into Draco's erection, he responded by gripping her hips and forcefully entering her, groaning at how utterly tight and wet she was. Hermione arched her back, making his cock slam into her as far as it could go. He grabbed the back of her hair, forcing her head back as he fucked her hard and fast. 

His hand released her hair and found it's way to her pussy. He rubbed her clit in violent circles, making her orgasm almost instantly. Thrusting into her one more time, he almost screamed out as he ejaculated into her swollen cunt. 

Hermione collapsed on her stomach. Draco rolled off of her and lay, hot, sweaty and satisfied, next to her. 

"I hope Ron and Ginny didn't hear any of that," she said, looking at him and smiling. 

"So what if they did?" 

"I'm just worried about Ron. I wish he could just move on, you know? I wish he could find a good woman and forget about me." 

Draco smirked. "Maybe he will, you never know." Draco closed his eyes. 

Ron lay there, wide awake, listening to the love making coming from the next room. This was pure torture! "I never made her moan like that!" he said to himself. He put a pillow over his head, but it didn't help much. "How is it fair that that evil bastard gets Hermione and I get no one?" 

He rolled over onto his back and listened to the fountains in the room bubbling. "Where am I going to find a new girl? A girl who'll make Hermione jealous?" He yelped as something appeared next to him. 

Looking over, he cringed in horror. A blow-up doll was lying beside him. While he stared at it, it suddenly came to life and said in a seductive voice, "Hey big boy, wanna fuck?" Ron screamed and jumped from the sofa. He could hear Draco laughing like a loon. Ginny sat up, her eyes darting around the room. 

"VERY FUNNY MALFOY!!!" he yelled. The blow-up doll winked at him and smiled.


	20. 20

  
Author's notes: Snape gets bad news, and they all discuss what to do about Draco's 'fetch'.  


* * *

Snape walked into the house and slammed the door, making the glass in the windows vibrate. He was pissed. Extremely pissed. "I hate that fucking bastard! Try and crush my skull will you?" He mumbled under his breath. "Is there any one here?" he yelled into the darkness. He walked up the stairs and as soon as he got to the landing, Ron ran out of the bedroom, screaming and being chased by the blow up doll. Snape smirked at him as he ran past and fled down the steps. "See you got yourself a new woman, Weasley!" He chuckled and walked over to the room where he knew Draco would be. 

"Malfoy! Open the door. I need to talk to you and Granger." He knocked softly and when stuck his ear to the door. "What a bunch of horny little toads!" he said, rolling his eyes. The door suddenly opened and he came very close to falling over. 

"I never fancied you for a peeping Tom, Snape," Draco said, grinning. 

"Just shut up and listen to me! Is Potter back yet?" 

Hermione put on her slippers and pulled back her unkept hair. "Not yet. No one but you has returned." 

They turned as Ginny came into the room. "What the bloody hell is my brother screaming about?" Ron was running through the house, knocking over furniture and yelling for Malfoy to stop playing games. 

Draco laughed. "I just thought that because Weasel was feeling a bit lonely, I'd help him out a little." 

Hermione and Ginny glared at him. "What have you done?" Ginny said, threatening to punch his lights out. 

"Put your fist down. Violence never solved anything." Draco walked out of the room and down the stairs. Everyone followed. 

"If he's done anything to hurt Ron, I'll kill him!" Ginny said to Hermione. 

"Not if I get to him first!" she said. "What in the name of..." 

They all stopped as Ron ran towards them, sweat running down his face. He looked over his shoulder, tripped and fell and went sprawling. He landed on the floor in front of them. As they watched, he rolled over frantically and screamed bloody murder as the blow up doll jumped on top of him and tried to pull his pants down. "Help! Malfoy! Make it stop!" 

Harry and Regulus walked through the door, halting in their tracks, looks of shock and confusion on their faces. "Ron!" Harry said and ran over to him. He looked up at Draco. "This is your doing isn't it?" The blow up doll pushed Harry away ruffly and straddled Ron, who was now naked from the waist down. 

Regulus stood next to Severus, both were clearly amused. They tried to hold back their laughter, but when the doll started to ride Ron like a Rhinestone Cowgirl, they clutched each other and laughed so hard that tears were streaming down their faces. 

Even the Doppleganger was having a good old time. It leaned up against the wall, one foot planted behind it, chuckling and pointing at Ron. 

In the confusion and merriment, no one noticed that a graying rat with balding patches, scurried into the room and ran under the sofa. It watched the scene unfolding with great interest. 

"Get that thing off him!" Ginny yelled in Draco's face. "Right now!" She punched him in the arm. 

"All right! All right!" Draco said, rubbing his shoulder. He closed his eyes. The doll stopped moving, looked up at Draco and then disappeared into thin air. 

Ron jumped up and grabbed Draco by the shirt. "I'm going to kill you, you sick twisted fuck!" He shoved into the wall so hard that Draco's head left an imprint in the plaster. 

Draco just laughed in his face. He couldn't help it. The image of Ron Weasley getting screwed by a plastic woman filled with air was just so damn funny! And here he was, half naked and making fruitless threats. That made it even more hilarious. His Doppleganger stepped forward, ready to defend Draco. 

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Ron asked, shaking him. 

The Doppleganger looked over it's shoulder at the wide open door and quickly vanished. 

Hermione tapped Ron on the back. "I suggest you put your pants back on, before you catch a cold." 

Everyone turned as Lupin, Arthur and Bill came through the door. "Ron? Why don't you have any pants on? What is the meaning of this?" Arthur goggled at the sight before him. 

Ron turned purple with embarrassment. He let go of Malfoy and put his pants back on. "This... this... son of a bitch conjured a frigging sex crazed doll and made it chase me!" 

Bill smiled. "That doesn't seem so bad, brother." He slapped him on the back. "Get it any way you can! That's what I always say! The kinkier, the better!" 

Ron's mouth hung open in disbelief. "But the damn thing raped me! Ripped my clothes off and had her way with me she did!" 

Remus cleared his throat. "Yes, well, now that it's all done with, why don't we all have a nice long discussion." He gave Ron a hard look. "After all, there are more important things to talk about right now." 

"Yes. Everyone have a seat. It's time we make some plans." Severus said, putting his hands behind his back. "We have a lot to do." 

Peter listened with rapt attention from under the sofa. The Granger girl and the Malfoy boy were directly across from him. He was momentarily shocked when she sat in his lap. "A Malfoy and a Mudblood?" He said to himself. "What next?" 

"Is everyone up to date on what has transpired so far? Regulus being alive? He being the one that stole the locket Horcrux from the Dark Lord?" 

Peter gasped in his mind. "Oh the Dark Lord is going to flip! I shall be his favorite after I tell him this!" 

Snape paced back and forth. "Does everyone know about the Doppleganger?" 

Bill raised his hand. "I've a question about that. What exactly does Voldemort want with this Dopple-thingy?" 

"I really can't say for certain. Mr. Malfoy can produce a Doppleganger that becomes solid. It's heart beats, it can talk and walk. Sometimes, it acts without Draco's knowledge. It has been known to be violent and even to perform sexual acts." 

Ginny blushed and averted her eyes. She hoped Harry, who was sitting next to her, didn't notice her unease. 

Snape sighed and continued. "If the Dark Lord captured Draco, he could torture him, forcing the Doppleganger to appear and do his bidding. Having a paranormal being that is strong, violent and not able to physically die is a powerful weapon." 

Bill sat back in his chair and put his fingers to his lips, thinking. "Couldn't we use this being to our advantage?" He looked over at Draco. "How well can you control it?" 

Draco smirked. "I'm not sure. Before I came here, I had only managed to produce it a few times. One of those times, it almost killed someone. I had a difficult time controlling it, but I was only a child. For some reason, since Hermione has been here, it has become very strong. Almost as if it's alive. It used to make me very tired, making it appear, but now that doesn't happen." 

Hermione took his hand. "It's very protective of him. Whenever Draco is in danger, it'll appear. At these times, it's very lifelike and will attempt to help him by using any means necessary." 

"Can you bring it here now?" Arthur asked. 

Draco frowned. "I feel like a circus freak." He closed his eyes and concentrated. He filtered out all of the noise, hearing only the beating of his own heart. When he opened them again, it was there, standing next to Arthur's chair. 

"Amazing! It looks just like your twin!" Arthur stood up and peered into it's face. "I can even see the pores on it's skin, and the movement of it's chest as it breaths!" The Doppleganger grabbed Arthur by the shoulders and planted a huge wet kiss on his lips. It then smiled and said, "You're one hot beefcake of a man, Arthur Weasley!" 

"It seems your 'fetch' is bisexual! Does that mean you are too?" Ron asked in a smartass voice. 

"You wish!" Draco said and blew Ron a kiss. Ron huffed and crossed his arms over his chest. 

Bill leaned forward. "Did you tell it, or will it, to do and say what it did?" he asked Draco. 

"Yes. It doesn't always do what I want it to and sometimes it does things I never told it to do. Right Ginny?" Draco smirked at her. 

Harry turned to her. "What's he talking about?" 

Ginny panicked. "How should I know?" she said rather harshly. 

Hermione elbowed Draco in the ribs. He wiggled his eyebrows at Harry and Ginny, still smirking. Harry narrowed his eyes at him, wondering what exactly went on while he was away. 

Under the sofa, Peter was getting very excited. He was sure Voldemort would reward him for the volumes of information he was going to bring back to him. 

Arthur sat back down, keeping his eyes on the Doppleganger. It walked over to stand next to Draco's chair. "It really is quite life like isn't it?" 

"Are you through worshipping the 'fetch', Arthur?" Snape said. "We have plenty more things to go over." 

Arthur blushed, looked around and then sat back, trying to look casual. "Please, Severus, continue." 

Snape began his pacing again. "Harry and Regulus have agreed to find and destroy the remaining Horcuxes. But first, he needs to get this one off my damn neck before my chest hair catches fire!" 

Harry stood up, gave Regulus an uneasy glance and addressed the room. "About that..." 

"What did Dumbledore's portrait say must be done, Potter? Tell us!" Snape said impatiently. 

"He said there is only one way to destroy the locket now that it's around your neck." Harry took a deep breath, but said nothing. He looked at each face in the room. 

"Potter!" Snape said. "What did he say?" 

Harry gulped, closed his eyes to gather his courage and then looked Snape directly in the face. "He said the only way to destroy the Horcrux was for you to die. It will never come off your neck. When you die, the Horcrux will be destroyed." 

The whole room was silent.


	21. 21

  
Author's notes: Tonks get kidnapped, Harry goes to kill Nagini and a rat escapes.  


* * *

Greyback was waiting, very impatiently, for Tonks to appear. He knew that every evening, she went for a walk in the park - alone. He had been hiding in the bushes for at least an hour. His ass and back were hurting and he was so hungry that he wanted to pounce on every emaciated jogger that ran by. 

"Ah here she comes!" Today she was dressed as a light skinned black woman with giant gold hoop earrings. She didn't fool him one bit... he knew her scent. He glanced around to make sure they were alone and then jumped out at her. He slapped his hand over her mouth to keep her from screaming. She kicked her legs and tried to elbow him in the chest. 

"Just be still, my pretty little witch, or I'll be forced to rip out your heart with my bare hands. I can feel it beating very fast. Are you frightened, my morsel?" He licked her ear and chuckled maniacally. She struggled even harder, and he held his hand even tighter over her mouth and nose. The last thing she heard before she passed out was the werewolf saying that she was going to see the Dark Lord. 

Snape was speechless. He thought... knew... that he had heard Potter wrong. 

"Professor?" Harry was very concerned. "Did you hear what I said?" 

Snape shook his head slowly. "I thought I heard you say that the only way to destroy this Horcrux was to destroy myself. This can't possibly be what you said, Potter." 

"I'm afraid it is." 

Snape suddenly became furious. He picked up the end table and threw it across the room. He took his fist and smashed every glass picture frame that was hanging on the walls. "I will NOT accept this! There has to be another way! I refuse to sacrifice myself!" 

Peter crawled even further under the sofa, shaking in fear. 

Regulus got up and attempted to calm Severus down. "Please. You need to relax. Maybe this isn't the only option." 

Harry turned on Regulus. "Why are you giving him false hope? You heard Dumbledore! He said that locket is permanately attached and the only way to destroy it is if the person wearing it dies! Many times I've wanted to kill you, Snape and now that I have to, I can't bring myself to do it! I won't kill you, so I guess the locket will never be destroyed and Voldemort will win!" 

Snape sat down and put his head in his hands. He didn't see the Doppleganger lean down and whisper something to Hermione. Everyone else noticed and looked at her curiously. 

"Um, Professor Snape? I need to see you and Harry alone in the kitchen please." Hermione slid of Draco's lap, grabbed his hand and led him into the next room. 

Severus looked up at Harry, who shrugged his shoulders. They followed the Doppleganger into the kitchen. "What is this all about?" Severus asked. "Has the 'fetch' found another way to destroy the locket with out having to end my life?" He looked at her expectantly. 

"I'm sorry," she said, patting his arm. "No. What it did tell me was that there is a certain rat hiding under the sofa, listening to our every word." 

"Pettigrew!" Harry said angrily. "He must have followed you," he accused Snape. "Now what the hell are we going to do?" 

"Who the fuck is Pettigrew and why is he spying on us?" Draco asked. 

Hermione rolled her eyes. "He's a Death Eater and a Animagus. He can turn into a rat. Apparently, he's here to gather information and report back to Voldemort." 

"That's just great! What do we do now?" Draco looked at his handsome Doppleganger. "Any ideas?" It shook it's head no. "Figures." 

Snape, who seemed oddly calm now, came to a decision. "We let him go." 

"Let him go! Have you flipped your fucking lid?" Draco said angrily. "He'll tell the Prince of Darkness where we are, and then we'll all be dead!" 

"Would you just listen to me?" Snape's eyes crackled with excitement. "We let him go. Make it seem as though he's escaped by himself. He must not think we're on to him. He'll go straight to the Dark Lord, who will then come straight here." 

"Then what? Offer him a drink and lap dance?" Draco was beside himself. I will not just sit here and wait to die!" 

"Granger, you need to put a muzzle on your pet!" Snape said. "I have a plan, Mr. Malfoy. If you'll shut your damn mouth for a second, I'll tell you what it is!" 

Back in the livingroom, the fire in the fireplace suddenly flashed green. Remus, Bill, Ron and Ginny all gasped at the same time. "Tonks!" 

Regulus, who was trying to listen to the conversation in the kitchen, ran over and joined them. 

Remus ran over and knelt down. "My god! what's the matter?" 

Tonks was crying and kept looking over her shoulder. "Remus! I've been kidnapped!" 

"Kidnapped! By whom?" Arthur asked. 

"Greyback!" 

Remus turned as white as a sheet. "No! Where are you?" 

Tonks suddenly began to speak very rapidly. "Don't come after me! It's a trap! He..." She was suddenly shoved backwards and Greyback was looking out of the fire. "Either you meet me in the Dark Forest in an hour, Lupin, or your lovely woman will be my breakfast! Come alone and be prepared for the worst!" 

They heard Tonks scream and flames suddenly shot from the fireplace. "In 1 hour, Lupin!" Greyback laughed. 

Remus jumped up from the floor and ran for the door. 

"Wait! Remus! You must not go alone!" Bill rushed towards him and tried to keep him from leaving. "It's too dangerous! Let me go with you!" 

"Bill's right. You must not go alone!" Arthur was almost begging. "You heard what she said! It's a trap!" 

"He said to come alone or he will kill her. I will not put her life in any more danger than necessary! I am going... by myself!" He tore away from Bill and fled from the house. 

Peter wished that rats could smile. He was sure his would be the biggest fucking grin on the face of the earth. The Dark Lord was a genius! He was about to run from under the sofa and out the open door, when Bill slammed it, rattling the window panes. "He's dead." 

"He's in love, Bill." Arthur said. "If it was your mother who needed to be rescued, I would do the same thing. Wouldn't you do the same for Fleur?" 

Bill fiddled with his dangling earring. "People do crazy things all in the name of love, don't they?" His father smiled at him in agreement. 

"Shouldn't we tell the rest of the group what just happened?" Ginny asked. "I think they need to know." 

"Yes. You're right." Regulus said. "This might complicate things somewhat." 

"That, Professor, is an ingenious plan!" Hermione said, impressed. "We need to inform the others." 

"Here they come." Harry said. "Shouldn't we cast some sort of silencing charm on the room or something?" He looked at Snape, who agreed. 

After they were all seated around the kitchen table, Peter came out from his hiding place and quietly made his way into the kitchen. These people were up to something and he wanted to know what it was. 

Severus saw Peter slink into the room and smiled. The charm he placed was brilliant. The group could discuss what ever they wanted and Peter would hear something completely different. "Where is Lupin?" He looked towards the doorway. 

Remus apparated to Hogsmead and made his way to the Dark Forest. His mind and heart were racing. The woman he loved being kept hostage by Frenrir Greyback! The child killing werewolf that had bitten him! He feared for her safety, not to mention her sanity. The man was crazy. A bloodthirsty animal with an appetite for destruction. 

For once he wished it were the full moon, so that he could transform and fight Greyback... werewolf to werewolf. Fenrir could now transform without the moon and most of the time, went around as a wolf. 

Remus ran through the trees, listening and searching for the beast. Suddenly the smell hit him like a ton of bricks. It was a feral smell. Wild and filthy. It was the sent of rotten flesh and old blood. It was nauseating. "I know you're here, Greyback!" 

The werewolf, stepped out from behind a tree to the left of Remus. He aimed his wand at the man-beast. "Where is Nymphadora?" The werewolf began to circle him. "Give her to me now!" 

"Give her to me now!" Fenrir said in a sing song mocking voice. "I don't think you're in the position to give orders, Lupin!" 

"You better not have harmed her!" 

"She's fine... for now." He grinned, showing his bloodstained teeth. "But if you don't cooperate, you might find her pretty little head up a tree, her arms and legs gnawed to the bone, her organs devoured... you get the picture?" Greyback pulled something out of his pocket. 

Remus recognized the silver charm bracelet he had given Tonks just the other day. The memory of it flashed in his mind. Her happy face, her soft pink lips kissing his. "WHERE IS SHE!!!" 

Greyback laughed. "Tell me where the Potter boy goes! Tell me what he's up to, or so help me I'll rip her to pieces!" He reached behind another tree and brought out a bound and gagged Tonks. She looked beat up, bloody and exhausted. 

Remus lunged for her, but Greyback pushed her out of reach. "Are you all right?" he said to her. She nodded her head. Tears were running down her face and her eyes were wide with fright. He aimed his wand and shouted a spell that richoched off the tree behind Greyback's head. "I'll kill you, you fucking bastard!" 

Greyback pushed Tonks to the ground and both she and Remus watched in horror as Greyback transformed. He put back his head and howled. Tonks scooted behind a tree and hugged her knees to her chest. Remus stood tall and courageous, ready to defend his love from harm. 

"But Severus! There is so much that could go wrong!" Regulus said. 

"We have no other plan and time is running out. I'm going to die. Why not kill two birds with one spell?" 

"I agree. We should go with it," Harry said. "Regulus, you and I have 12 hours to find and destroy the remaining Horcruxes." 

"That's impossible!" Regulus was outraged. 

"Make the impossible possible, Black, or else we are all going to die!" Draco said, giving him a hard look. 

Snape continued. "Arthur? You, and your children must return to Headquarters and inform the Order of the plan. 

"What about Hermione? Shouldn't she come with us?" Ron asked. 

"I'm staying here, Ron." 

Ron stood up and pointed an angry finger at her. "You don't need to be here for the plan to work! You're just staying because your lover boy has to! You're willing to die for him?" 

Hermione grabbed Ron's finger and twisted it. "Yes, Ron. I'm willing to die for him. I love him." 

Ron snatched his finger away. "If you really love her, Malfoy, you'll make her leave. If you care about her at all, you'll force her to go where she'll be safe." 

Draco sneered at him. "That's the difference between you and me, Weasley. I don't force Hermione to do anything. She knows the danger. If she chooses to stay and fight, then I respect her decision. I might not agree with it, but I still respect it!" 

Ron glared at him. "If she dies, it'll be your fault, Malfoy. I hope you can live with that." 

Draco smirked. "If she dies, I die too." 

"Enough of this bickering!" Snape snapped. "Granger stays." He gave a quick glance at the rat in the corner, behind the broom, wondering what it was that Pettigrew was hearing. "The rest of you must leave, right now!" 

Peter struggled to concentrate and remember every detail that was being discussed. He had to admit that Snape just as devious as The Dark Lord. He couldn't wait to get away from here and get back to his master. All this talk about Dopplegangers and Horcruxes was very interesting to say the least. It was astonishing that Voldemort had split his soul and hidden parts of it. It was very smart, but also very stupid. It was a good thing that Potter had no idea where the rest of them were. "The Dark Lord is going to be so happy when I tell him that one of his intact Horcruxes is around Snape's neck!" 

He suddenly realized that everyone was getting up from the table. Harry and the Weasley girl hung back and Peter decided to listen in on their conversation. 

"Harry, please be careful!" Ginny cried. "I couldn't bare it if something happened to you." She hugged him tightly. 

"Ginny, I need to tell you something. If I should... die" 

"Harry, don't even say it!" 

"Gin, I need you to know that I love you. I..." 

Ginny's lips crashed down onto Harry's cutting him off in mid sentence. She stopped kissing him long enough to pull him into the downstairs bathroom. "I love you so much,' she whispered, pulling off her clothes and then starting on his. 

"Ginny! We don't have time for this!" He jumped as her cold hand wrapped it's self around his growing erection. She stroked him hard and fast. His mind began to spin. "What the hell!" he said. "A quickie won't hurt!" He leaned against the door and lifted her up, setting her down on his cock. 

He held onto her firm ass as she slid up and down, getting faster more urgent. The moans coming from her mouth and the wet sucking sounds coming from her pussy, were enough to drive him over the edge. He plunged into her one last time, erupting inside of her just as she shook from her own orgasm. 

"Where the hell did Potter get to?" Snape asked. He walked back into the kitchen and stopped in his tracks. "Ah! To be young again!" He smiled at the erotic sounds coming from the bathroom and went back into the livingroom. "Potter is... not available at the moment." He looked at Arthur, who seemed confused. He noticed that Pettigrew had once again taken refuge under the sofa. 

"You don't mean...? Harry? and Ginny?" Arthur's face turned the color of pomegranate juice. He marched into the kitchen just as his daughter and her lover were finishing. 

Bill appeared next to him, a big smile on his face. "She could do a lot worse you know." He held his father back. "Let them be. It might be the last time they see each other." 

Mr. Weasley looked at Bill's somber face. "True." He sighed and let his son lead him away. A few minutes later the couple came back, flushed and looking satisfied. Arthur, took a deep breath and asked her if she was ready to go. 

"Good bye Harry. Be careful, be optimistic and most of all, be assured that when this is all over, I'll be here." Ginny looked into his eyes. "I love you." 

"I love you too, Gin." He gave her one last kiss and watched her leave, surrounded by her father and her two brothers. 

"And now," Severus said. "Time for you to get a move on Potter." 

Harry gave Hermione a hug, shook Draco hand and gave a curt nod to Severus. "Ready, Regulus?" 

"I've been ready!" 

"Right. Let's go!" 

Hermione walked them to the front door. "Take care of yourselves." 

Harry kissed her tear streaked cheek. "I'll see you soon." 

She waved as they left and then returned to the livingroom, where it was time to act. 

"Draco," Snape said. Because Lupin is probably being tortured into telling your where-abouts as we speak, I suggest that you take Miss Granger and go the secret place we talked about earlier." He ran his hand through his greasy hair. "You are no longer safe here." 

"Aren't you coming with us, Professor?" Hermione asked, trying to sound concerned. 

"I will stay here. I must face the Dark Lord alone. I know that when he finds out how I deceived him, he'll come for me." 

"But Professor!" Draco said. 

"Mr. Malfoy, I command you to leave at once. I won't be the cause of your deaths!" 

Peter was actually shaking with glee. When the door opened again, he was going to run for it. Very soon, he would be his Master's favorite servant again! 

Draco tried to protest but Severus opened the door and actually shoved them onto the porch. Peter took his chance and scurried out, running as fast as his little legs could carry him. The three of them watched the rat head into the forest and then turned and went back inside. 

"And so it begins," Snape said, ominously


	22. 22

  
Author's notes: Greyback gets what he deserves, Fred and George have a plan, Snape thinks about his life and Draco and Hermione make love.  


* * *

Greyback rose up, towering above Remus. He threw back his head and howled, the sound echoed eerily through the trees. He reached his huge paw down and picked up Tonks by her foot, holding her upside down in the air. She screamed, begging Remus to help her. The werewolf shook her and threw her, sending her crashing into the bushes where she lay unconscious. 

Remus, refusing to show fear, threw down his wand and in a fit of rage, transformed. He ran straight for Greyback and the two werewolves collided, locked in a bloody struggle to the death. 

Arthur, his two sons and his daughter arrived at Grimmauld Place where Kingsley and the rest of the Order were waiting. He clued them in on Snape's plan and answered their questions as well as he could. 

"Now all we do is wait," Bill said, looking at the clock on the mantle. 

Fred and George came in, tossed a heavy bag on the kitchen table and said at the same time, "Shacklebolt thought you could use our help." 

"It's not time to go yet." Arthur said, looking at the clock. 

"Not time to go?" George said. "What the hell are we waiting for?" 

"Who cares what Snape said! We should go now!" Fred said. "Surprise is our best weapon!" 

Harry and Regulus went to the school once more where they made their way to the seventh floor. 

"The Room of Requirement," Regulus said. "An ingenious hiding place for a Horcrux, wouldn't you say?" 

"And what exactly are we looking for?" Harry said. 

"A certain something that once belonged to Rowena Ravenclaw. Perhaps a jewel? Maybe her old knickers? Could be her mummified body. I really don't know!" 

Harry was becoming increasingly agitated with Regulus. "What do you mean you don't know?" 

"I just know that it's here, in this room... somewhere. I was never really certain of what exactly the Horcrux was." 

Harry pushed him up against the wall. "You stupid fuck! The room where everyone hides things is friggin huge! It could take us days to find it!" 

Regulus smiled. "Then I suggest we get started because we only have 11 hours left." 

"Yes my Lord, it's true! Black is alive!" Peter cowered before Voldemort, who was very angry. "And he has your Horcrux!" 

"How dare he think he could steal my Horcrux and get away with it!" He sat back down in his chair. "You say he and Potter have gone to search for the others?" he asked, while stroking Nagini. 

"Yes, my Lord! Black says he doesn't know where they are, so the search might take days... if not years!" 

Voldemort stared into the fire. "I would love to know how that simpleton found out! When I get my hands on that thief, I'm going to take great pleasure in cutting off his hands and shoving them up his ass!" 

Peter laughed and then abruptly stopped when Voldemort shot him a murderous look. "What about Snape?" 

Voldemort grinned, the light from the fire made his eyes glow crimson. "I will deal with him personally. You said he is alone?" 

"Yes master. Everyone has left, even the Malfoy boy." 

"The Malfoy boy... he will be mine! But first," he said standing up. "I will deal with Snape. I'll let him stay in that house alone for a while, wallowing in fear. Let him think that maybe I'm not coming for him..." 

"But my Lord, how are you going to kill him without destroying your Horcrux?" 

"Are you really that fucking stupid Wormtail?" Voldemort said, leering. "I made the Horcrux, therefore, I also made the enchantments that surround the Horcrux! That locket will be in my possession after I lift the spell and cut off that lying traitors head!" 

Severus Snape sat alone at the kitchen table, thinking about his life. What a waste! His childhood was anything but pleasant, his school years were painful to say the least and his adult life had been one dumb mistake after another. In one way, he was luckier than most. He had been given a second chance. A chance to make up for all the death and destruction he had caused. He had tried so hard to save Lilly! Why couldn't he have shown up at their house sooner? Maybe he could have helped! 

Peter had told him where the Potter's lived and he also told him that the Dark Lord was planning that very night to kill their baby. Severus, ridden with guilt, headed straight to their home to warn them. What he found was utter destruction. His beloved Lilly, a friend he cherished for her kindness and ability to see the good in even the most wicked person, was dead. 

James, who Severus had never thought was good enough for Lilly, was also dead. He looked down at his lifeless body, this man that he had hated for years and actually felt sad. 

He had done this! This was all fault! This whole family was slaughtered and it was all because he wanted approval from the damn Dark Lord! Severus actually thought about killing himself right then and there, but was brought to his senses by the whimpering of a child. 

He found Harry in his crib, under a blanket. The boy's forehead had been slashed open and blood was running down his face. Severus picked him up, and to his astonishment, the boy hugged him. He pulled away and looked into the baby's green eyes... Lilly's eyes. This was Lilly's child and he owed it to her to save him. 

Severus knew that at any moment there would be people swarming around the wreckage and he didn't want to be caught here. He laid the boy down in his crib and pulled out his wand. Harry smiled up at him as he healed the gash on his forehead. "We're even now, James," he whispered and then fled the house as Sirius turned up on his enchanted flying motorcycle. 

After he and the other Death Eaters realized that Voldemort was gone, Severus did the only thing he could think of doing... he went to see his mother. She welcomed him with open arms and held him while he cried in shame and guilt. Eileen went to Dumbledore in her son's behalf and begged him to help. What else could Dumbledore do? He saw the anguish and remorse that Severus felt. He believed that from this tragedy, Severus had finally learned his lesson. 

Dumbledore offered him a job and a place to live. He also offered him something Severus had longed for his whole life... acceptance. Life was finally good, and then Harry showed up. 

Every day he had to look at that boy and be reminded of what he had done! It was enough to drive a man to the brink of insanity! Every time Harry looked at him, he could see Lilly staring back at him - accusing him. It's not like he hated the boy, on the contrary, he was quite fond of him. Although he looked a lot like James, he had Lilly's loving and gentle side. He also had her temper which was not always a good thing. 

James was an asshole through and through. Although he did seem to grow up a bit when he married Lilly, he still was a jerk. Draco reminded Severus of James. Here was a Pureblood boy who was arrogant to the roots of his over-conditioned hair. He was sneaky, obnoxious and liked hurt people for fun... just like James. 

Then a Muggle Born Witch enters the picture. He secretly wants her, she hates him and wishes he would die. He tries all the wrong things to impress her, she treats him like a boil on her ass. Then one day, something happens. He does something so out of character, so utterly desperate that she can't help looking at him in a new light. After that, it's all history as they say. 

He was glad Draco had found true love. It was the one thing Severus never found in all his pathetic years. In school, he had loved Lilly but she chose to love another. Later, it had been Narcissa. How he loved that woman! She was beautiful, sexy and funny. He knew she was engaged to Lucius, but that didn't stop them from having a torrid affair that lasted even after she married. 

When Lucius caught them in bed together, Severus was sure it was the end of his relationship with Narcissa. Boy was he wrong! Lucius had no problem with sharing his wife, as long as he got to watch. 

Severus was stunned, but quickly got over it. If this was the only way he could be with her, then he would do it. It was difficult to have sex with Lucius sitting in a chair wanking, but he became used to it after a while. Then the unthinkable happened. Lucius demanded to join them. Although Severus was no prude, he drew the line at having a dick in his mouth or up his arse. He and Narcissa decided to end it and he went back to his lonely loveless life. 

Yep. His life was a disapointment. No wife, no children and now no job. His best friend was dead because he, Snape, couldn't refuse Narcissa and her blasted vow. Now she was gone forever, the Dark Lord was on his way and he must die to save the world. Maybe his life wasn't that worthless after all. 

Severus sighed, pushed away from the table and went into the livingroom to await his fate. 

"Granger, can I ask you something?" Draco was lounging on the bed searching through a book titled '50 Ways to Please Your Man'. 

"Yes?" she asked, looking over at him. She was writing a letter to her parents, just in case something happened to her. 

"Would you do this to please me?" He showed her a graphic picture of woman wearing a strap on dildo and screwing a man up the ass. He smirked at her, looking like a devil and an angel at the same time. 

"Why would you ask me such a thing?" she said, rolling her eyes. "You know I'd do anything to please my man!" she put down her quill and crawled onto the bed. 

"Anything?" he asked, kissing her. His hands went up her shirt and caressed the bare soft skin on her stomach. 

"Anything." 

He looked down at her. "If we get out of this alive, will you marry me?" 

Hermione sat up. "Marry you? But haven't even graduated yet!" 

Draco pushed her back onto the bed, his lips gently grazed her neck. "Just say yes, Granger." He slid his hand into her pants and rubbed her pussy, making her moan. "Say yes." He lifted her head with one hand and brought his mouth slowly and passionately to hers. 

Hermione's head was spinning, her cunt was aching and her body felt like it was on fire. As Draco's fingers entered her, she screamed out "YES!" 

Draco removed his fingers, and brought them to her lips. She stared into his lustful grey eyes as she licked her own juices from his long fingers, savoring the taste. He leaned in and sucked her tongue, making her shiver. 

Hermione lifted his shirt over his head and rolled him onto his back. She undid his belt and pulled it off with her teeth. After slowly undressing him, she straddled him, grinding herself into his very hard cock. 

Their love making was interrupted by the arrival of two very impatient people.


	23. 23

  
Author's notes: Remus is triumphant, Harry finds Nagini alone and the Order prepare to fight.  


* * *

Greyback snapped his huge foaming jaw around Lupin's neck, making him howl with pain. He shook, trying to rip out a chunk of flesh. Blood flew everywhere, spattering the ground with crimson droplets. 

Tonks sat up and tried to focus on her surroundings. As her vision cleared and she saw the two werewolves locked in battle, she silently screamed in her head. The last thing she wanted was to draw attention to herself. Crawling on her hands and knees, she rapidly made her way over to a large elm tree and hoisted herself up. Quickly, she climbed up and out onto a large branch over looking the fight below. 

Lupin raised his claw and raked his razor sharp nails over Fenrir's back. The cuts were gaping and werewolf let out a horrifying scream of agony. Lupin, finally released from the animals jaws, pushed Greyback onto the ground and attacked him with murderous rage. 

Tonks saw Greyback hit the ground as if it were in slow motion. She felt the thud of his huge body, saw her silver bracelet fly out of the werewolf's hand, and in a moment of pure craziness- decided to join the fight. 

Lupin and Greyback were biting and clawing each other, blood was flowing over the forest floor in an amazing amount. Greyback clamped his teeth around Lupin's arm and bit it to the bone. Lupin retaliated by slashing the werewolf across the face with his other claw. 

Tonks scrambled over to where the silver bracelet was lying. Scooping it up, she stood, turned and after only a moments hesitation, ran over the fight. Halfway there, she tripped over a root and went sprawling. The bracelet went flying and landed on the chest of Greyback. 

Lupin stopped fighting. He picked up the flashing metal trinket, closed his paw around it and with one huge thrust, plunged his fist into Greyback's chest. 

Greyback arched off the ground in agony, trying to throw Lupin off. Lupin ground his paw into the chest cavity, causing his enemy to howl painfully. 

Tonks slowly got to her feet as Greyback's howls became whimperings and his body turned back into that of a man. 

Lupin pulled his bloody paw from Fenrir's chest, leaving the bracelet inside. Standing up, he turned himself back into Remus the Wizard and together he and Tonks watched as the child murdering insane werewolf slowly died. 

Harry and Regulus, having found the tiara belonging to Rowena Ravenclaw rather easily, now made their way to the hot, stifling classroom of Professor Trelawney. Harry could not believe that last year, as he struggled to find a hiding place for the Prince's book, he had actually held the damn tiara in his hand! 

"How many friggin Horcruxes did Voldemort hide in the castle?" Harry asked, running to keep up with Regulus. "No wonder he wanted a job here!" 

"Voldemort wanted to teach here?" Regulus said, astonished. "Could you imagine him being your Professor?" He shivered just thinking about it. He climbed the ladder and together, they entered the classroom. 

Professor Trelawney was no where to be seen. "Perhaps she saw us coming in her crystal ball?" Harry said with a smirk. 

Regulus ignored him. "Where does she keep her tea cups?" 

"Over there!" Harry answered and they headed for the cupboard. 

Draco heard Snape yelling at the top of his lungs. "What the hell is old Snapey screaming about?" 

Hermione could care less, she wanted to make love to her man, not worry about Snape. "Just ignore him," she purred, locking her legs around Draco and thrusting her hips up. 

Draco forgot all about his former Professor. Until he heard a people running up the stairs, that is. The door was pushed open and there stood Fred and George Weasley, wearing smirks. 

"Have we interrupted something?" Fred said raising his eyebrows. 

Hermione grabbed the sheet and pulled it over her head. Draco got out of bed, his erection still very prominate. 

"Care to join us?" Draco asked, stroking his penis. "There's plenty of room for two more." 

George's jaw dropped. Fred's face turned fuchsia and Hermione pulled the sheet off her head. All looked at Draco like he was nutters. 

"As tempting as the offer is, Malfoy, I'm going to have to decline." George said, looking at the floor. 

Draco grinned at them. "How about you?" he said to Fred. "Like what you see, Weasley?" Draco turned around and smacked his own ass, smiling over his shoulder. 

"Draco!" Hermione said, scandalized. Her hair had so much static in it that it stood up all over her head like a cloud. 

Draco laughed uproariously. "Relax, love," he said, kissing her forehead. "Twas only a joke!" 

Snape appeared in the doorway, looking very angry. "If everyone is done screwing around, I suggest we get to work." 

"Doing what?" Draco asked, pulling on his pants. 

Snape looked at the twins and rolled his eyes. "Apparently Fric and Frack have some sort of plan to booby trap the house." 

"Excellent!" Draco said and followed the men out of the room. Hermione dressed as fast as she could and ran down stairs, where the others were gathered around a table full of strange things. 

"Where are the others? I thought you lot weren't supposed to show up for another 9 hours?" Hermione asked, taking a seat beside Severus. 

Fred laughed lightly. "You know us, Hermione, we don't like to sit around and wait. As soon as their backs were turned, we headed here." 

George picked up a bag of what looked like Dung Bombs. "These are our latest," he said turning one over in his hand. "An improvement on the old Dung Bombs. These smell worse..." 

Fred picked one up and threw it to the ground where it made a snapping noise. Almost immediately, the smell of rancid rotting fish filled the room, making everyone gag. 

"That is the most disgusting thing I've ever smelled!" Hermione said, breathing into her shirt. 

"Rotting meat isn't the only smell, there's also 'pig pen', 'moldy cheese', 'rotten eggs' and this..." he said holding up a bomb that was twice the size of the others. "Not only will this scent burn the lining from your nostrils and eyes, but it's guaranteed to make the smeller run away screaming for fresh air!" 

Draco took it and sniffed it. "I smell nothing." 

"That's because you have to throw it to the ground, smartass." George said. 

"Well? What's the smell?" Snape asked, clearly interested. "Not that I care," he added quickly. 

"You'll have to wait and see," Fred said mysteriously. "Damn it's fun being a genius!" 

For two hours, they set up magical traps all over the house. Snape had to admit that some of them WERE genius. 

A little later, there was a knock at the door and everyone jumped. "I'll get it. All of you," Snape said to them. "Get back. Be prepared for anything!" He carefully went to the door and opened it a crack. 

"It us, Severus!" Arthur said in a voice barely more than a whisper. 

Snape opened the door and ushered them in. The last person through shut the door and then turned, confronted with a stunned silence. 

"What the bloody hell is everyone looking at?" The old man said. 

Hermione struggled to speak. "You're the barman from the Hog's Head!" 

"I thought you said she was smart, Arthur?" 

"What are you doing here?" Snape asked, confused. 

The barman gave a little chuckle. "I'm here because I am member of the Order of the Phoenix." 

"I don't remember anyone saying anything about you being a member!" George said, suspiciously. "I'm sure I would have remembered something like that." 

"I've been undercover, if you must know." 

"By who's orders?" Draco said. 

"My brother, Albus." 

Snape looked at Arthur, who just shrugged his shoulders. 

"And you just decided to show up at Headquarters on the day that we happen to be planning a battle?" Fred said. 

"I've known all along about it." 

"How do you know?" Hermione asked, "Who told you?" 

Aberforth grinned. "I know a lot more than you think, Miss Granger. I've known all along about Mr. Malfoy being here. Who do you think was sending you all that information?" 

"Is anyone else confused, or am I just thick in the head?" Draco said, frowning. 

Aberforth sat down in the chair by the window and put his hands behind his head. "Dear Albus trusted me with all his secret information. I have known about Potter being the 'Chosen One', the Horcruxes, Sirius Black being an innocent, the whole vow thing with Narcissa and Severus, the plan about Albus sacrificing himself..." 

Snape stalked over to the chair and leaned in close to the old man. "How is it you knew about Draco being here?" Snape sneered at him. "Tell me!" 

Aberforth rolled his eyes. "I followed you, you twit!" 

Snape pushed away and went to stand by the fire place. 

"Mr. um... Dumbledore," Hermione said. It sounded extremely strange to be calling this man Dumbledore. "Why would you want me to find Draco? Why me of all people?" 

Aberforth leaned forward and put his fingers steeple-style under his chin. "Because Albus had an inkling that something had gone on between the two of you. He had a suspicion that regardless of how you both acted towards one another, that you really had a connection of some kind. Boy was he right!" Aberforth smirked as he glanced at Draco's hand entwined with Hermione's. 

"You thought I could save him?" 

"Even this arrogant poor excuse for a man didn't deserve to be locked up for all eternity." 

"Hey!" Draco interjected. 

On the mantle next to Snape's head, the clock chimed. 6 hours to go. "I hope Potter and Black have managed to do their job!" 

After Regulus and Harry made a visit to the Headmasters office, Harry set about destroying the two Horcruxes. Dumbledore gave Harry precise orders on how it was supposed to be done. This time, there was no accident. 

"We have one more to find and we only have..." Regulus looked at the clock. "5 more hours to do it in." 

Harry sighed. "Where is the last Horcrux?" 

Regulus looked at Dumbledore's portrait. "At the Riddle House." 

"WHAT!?!" Harry yelled. "There is NO way we can get in there! Voldemort uses that house!" 

"That's where the snake is, and that's where we have to go!" 

"Wait a minute! How do you know about the snake? Did He have that pet of his way back when you were a Death Eater?" Harry was red faced and sweat was running down his back. He did not want to set foot in the Riddle house, not one toe! 

"Yes. An unnaturally long time for a snake to live isn't it?" 

"Where was it when Voldemort was gone all those years?" Harry asked, still not believing Regulus could be right. 

"At the residence of one Walden Macnair." Regulus said, raising his one eyebrow. "He works for the Department for the disposal of Dangerous Creatures..." 

"I know who he is!" Harry said angrily, remembering Buckbeak and his near miss. 

"Voldemort left Nagini in the care of Macnair on the day he murdered your parents. Narcissa told me this when I asked her about the snake and it's whereabouts. After he returned to power, he paid Macnair a visit and retrieved his pet/Horcrux. I'm sure Voldemort was extremely thankful Macnair had taken such good care of Nagini for him!" 

Harry ran his hand through his untidy hair, making it stand up in all directions. "How in the bloody hell are we going to get inside and destroy Nagini without being caught?" 

"We'll worry about that when we get there," Regulus said, grinning. He hissed in a breath suddenly and clutched his Dark Mark. "The Dark Lord calls to his minions!" 

Harry and Regulus locked eyes, both were very worried and frightened for the others. "We are never going to get in that house, and even if we somehow manage to, we'll never leave it alive!" Harry said, struggling to remain calm. 

"It's time to put all fear aside and do what must be done, Harry," Dumbledore said from his fame. " Take the Gryffindor sword, you will need it. Now listen closely, this is how you must destroy the snake." 

"Good evening my Death Eaters! The reason I summoned you was because I have learned some very interesting information!" He strolled among the circle, something like glee danced in his red eyes. 

"As you may have noticed, a certain Severus Snape is not present." Everyone looked around and eyed each other uneasily. "That is because he has turned traitor!" 

There was a murmuring throughout the circle. "How can this be? He is your most trusted servant!" Amycus said. "He murdered that old bastard for you!" 

"It seems, my fellow lovers of the Dark Arts, that Snape seems to think he is more powerful than me. He wishes to dethrone me and with the help of the Order of the Phoenix, rule the Wizarding World!" 

Pettigrew nodded his head. "I heard it myself! I heard straight from Snape's own mouth!" He searched the unbelieving eyes of his fellow Death Eaters. "It's true!" Laughter resounded around the circle, making Peter shake in anger. 

"SILENCE!" Voldemort spat. "Wormtail speaks the truth! Snape and Regulus Black..." 

A ripple of whispering erupted. "But my Lord, how can this be? I was with Avery when he killed him!" Bella said. 

Voldemort leered at her. "Yes you were! I know for a fact that Avery is incompetent, but I expected more from you!" 

"Yes, my Lord! I should have double checked! Please forgive me!" Bella said, bowing low before him. 

"I'll punish you later, right now, I have more important things to do!" Voldemort left Bella quaking in fear of her future and sat back down in his favorite chair. "I know where Snape and Black are and we are going to pay them a little visit!" he said, watching Nagini slither across the worn carpet. 

Fred, George, Ron and Ginny set about booby trapping the outside of the house. Aberforth decided to take a tour and ended up in the cellar, starring in awe at Draco's model of Hogsmead. 

"You like it?" Draco asked, walking up next to the old man. "Took me weeks!" 

Aberforth picked up the little figure of himself and studied it. "This is amazing! Such detail! You did this all just from memory?" He put the little man down and went around the table to look at the unfinished Hogwarts Castle. 

"I haven't finished that. Looks like I won't get a chance to." 

The sad tone of Draco's voice made Aberforth glance over. "What the hell!" he said, jumping and almost upending the table. "Who's that!" he asked, pointing a shaking finger at the Doppleganger. 

"Who?" Draco asked looking behind himself. "Him? Oh that's only my 'fetch', he won't hurt you." 

"So that's the Doppleganger I've heard so much about?" Aberforth, unlike the others, did not want to touch the thing so he kept his distance. "Weird!" 

Hermione, Arthur and Bill came down the stairs. "So here's where you've gotten to!" Arthur said. "What are you looking at?" He went over to the model and gasped. "This is... is..." 

"Bloody fabulous!" Bill finished. 

Hermione smiled at Draco, who looked rather pleased his hobby was getting so much attention. 

"You know, I have a brilliant idea for our escape- should we need one that is." Aberforth said touching the Shrieking Shack. "We could charm this model town." 

Hermione knitted her eyebrows together, trying to figure out what the barman was up to. "What do you mean 'charm'?" 

"Make it so that should we need a fast escape, we could all jump into the model and be magically transported to the real Hogsmead." 

"Would that work?" Arthur asked, a little apprehensive. 

"I don't see why it wouldn't!" the old man said, grinning. 

Harry and Regulus crept towards the Riddle House. Unfortunately for them, the night sky was clear and the moon bright, offering no cover. 

"We are going to die!" Harry said through clenched teeth. "This is insane!" 

"Shh!" Regulus said suddenly, and they dodged behind a tree. "Someone's coming!" 

Harry could feel his heart in his throat. He knew the others were counting on him to do this, and for the hundredth time in his life, he wished that he was someone else. Someone else who didn't have to save the world every year. 

The voices got closer and Harry stiffened as he recognized Bella Lestrange's. 

"I told him not to trust Snape!" she said to her fellow Death Eater. "I, for one, can't wait to see the Dark Lord kill that lying piece of shit!" 

The other Death Eater laughed. "Two more hours and we'll finally be rid of that traitor once and for all!" 

Harry closed his eyes and tried to make himself small and invisible. As the voices became fainter, he opened them, only to see that he was alone. 

"Regulus?" he whispered into the night. "Regulus!" 

"Over here, Harry!" 

Harry made his way quickly over to the window where Regulus was peering in. "See anything?" 

"Nothing! Wait!" He put up his hand. "Look! Over there! In the corner!" 

Harry squinted. At first he saw nothing but the flickering light of the fire. "I see it!" Nagini was curled up on a rug in the corner. The rest of the room was totally deserted. "We need to hurry! Did you hear what they said? Two hours!" 

Regulus pulled out his wand, Harry did the same. Both were frightened and excited. They gathered their courage and opened the sash. Harry went first. When his feet hit the floor, they made no sound. Regulus climbed in and together they tip-toed over to the corner. 

Nagini was curled up, she was not sleeping however. She sensed the strangers outside and knew they planned to do her harm. She called to her master, but he was far from the house and couldn't hear her. 

The only guardians she had was Bella and Alecto, and they had decided to take a midnight stroll through the grounds. Nagini was alone with strangers who wanted to kill her. She was not afraid, however. She was not your typical normal everyday variety of snake. No! She was special, in more ways than one! 

"Is it sleeping?" Harry asked, kicking it with his foot. 

"Pretty sure it is," Regulus answered, squatting down to get a good look at it. He leaned in close, trying to see if it was breathing or something. 

Nagini suddenly lifted her head, making Regulus jump back. She locked eyes with him, her head swayed back and forth and Regulus found himself being mesmerized. 

"Regulus!" Harry said, putting a hand on his shoulder and shaking him. Regulus just stared blankly into the snake's eys. Harry did the only thing he could think of, he spoke to it. 

Nagini broke eye contact when she heard the Potter boy speaking to her. Her Master was the only one who had ever spoken to her and she found herself excited to have someone else to talk with. 

Regulus shook the cobwebs from his head and watched as Harry conversed with Nagini. He had no friggin idea what was being said, although he could get the gist. 

Harry quit speaking Parsletongue and turned to Regulus. "I think I've gotten her to trust me a bit. I'll keep talking, you sneak up behind her and chop off her head." 

Regulus frowned. "I thought you were supposed to destroy the Horcruxes? Why do I have to be the one to whack her?" 

"Cutting off her head won't kill her completely. You heard what Dumbledore said, I have to burn her and scatter the ashes." 

"Seems like I have to do the dirty work though, doesn't it?" Regulus looked at the snake, who was waiting patiently to converse with Harry once more. 

"Just do it!" Harry said, rolling his eyes and turning back to Nagini. "And don't forget.. her blood his very poisonous, so be careful not to get it on yourself." 

Regulus waited until Nagini was deep in conversation with Harry. He carefully picked up the heavy sword and as quiet as a mouse, walked up behind it. Lifting the weapon high over his head, he brought it down and in one swift cut, the head was severed from the body. 

"Quickly! Put on the Dragon hide gloves!" Regulus said, seeing the lethal blood seeping over the threadbare carpet. The snakes body was twitching and sliding all over the place, trying to find it's head. He could see some sort of fibers growing from the stump, and as he watched in horror, the fibers crawled across the floor and started to attach themselves to the snakes head. 

"Hurry, Harry!" Regulus brought the sword down again and sliced through the fibers. 

Harry, pulled on the gloves, picked up both parts of Nagini and threw them into the fireplace. A fireball shot from the flames and both Harry and Regulus hit the ground, arms thrown over their heads. 

Harry lifted his head and peered through the haze. The fire was gone and only smoke billowed out. They got to their feet, coughing and wheezing. "Dumbledore didn't bother to tell us that part!" 

Regulus laughed. "Gather the ashes. Bella and her friend probably heard the explosion. They'll be here any second." 

Harry pulled a small burlap sack from his pocket, gathered the ashes and he and Regulus went back out the window. 

"That was easy!" Regulus said with a smile. "Let's do it again sometime!" 

Harry frowned, but then smiled at him. He was beginning to like this man. "Not on your life!" Harry poured the ashes into his hand and tossed them into the night where they were carried away by the slight breeze. 

"Shall we head to Grimmauld Place to meet up with the others?" Regulus said. 

"The sooner the better!" Harry said and both dissapparated. 

"Hermione?" Draco said from beside her. They were lying on the roof, looking up at the stars. She turned her head to look at him. "Is that a UFO?" He pointed to a bright star. 

"Um... NO!" she laughed. "That's..." she trailed off as hundreds of shooting stars filled the sky. 

Draco stood up and below him, the others came running out of the house. "What does it mean?" he asked her. "Some sort of omen?" 

Hermione shook her head slowly. "I don't know." She got to her feet and embraced Draco. Together they watched the heavens light up, as the Death Eaters silently surrounded the house. 

Harry and Regulus ran into the house and found no one there. Harry ran up the stairs, calling out to people. He hesitated at the door to Sirius' bedroom. No one had entered the room since that horrible day. Harry put his ear to the door. Nothing. He took a deep breath, turned the handle and pushed it open. 

It was undisturbed. A tomb. Harry, already choking back tears, made his way over to the unmade bed. He ran his hand over the dust covered pile of blankets. He felt something hard and smooth. 

Pulling back the top quilt, he was shocked to see the other two way mirror. Harry could picture Sirius, lying in bed, the mirror in his hand, eagerly waiting for Harry to contact him. Of course Harry had never used his, had completely forgotten about it until it was to late. In fact his was now shattered into a million pieces, still lying in the bottom of his trunk. 

He picked it up and looked at his reflection. A tear slipped from his eye and fell onto the shiny surface. Harry watched it make a wet trail and fall onto the floor. 

"What are you doing?" Regulus said from the doorway. 

Harry jumped and quickly put the mirror into the pocket of his cloak. "Nothing." He rushed past Regulus and ran down the stairs. 

"Clearly they've gone without us." Regulus said, opening the pantry door and shouting "BOO!" 

"Well, let's go then. We only have minutes left. Luckily, we're able to apparate close to the house." 

Draco just happened to look down and see someone running from tree to tree. He recognized who it was immediately, his Aunt Bella. Pushing Hermione away, he ran to the edge of the roof and yelled down, "They're here!" 

Everyone looked at him with wide eyes, but no one moved. They were frozen in fear. 

"The fucking Death Eaters are here! Get inside the house!" Draco said angrily. He searched the dark tree line again and saw more of them coming. He grabbed Hermione's cold hand and shoved her through the attic window. As soon as he was inside, he heard the front door slam shut and a herd of footsteps running through the house. 

Draco pulled Hermione down the stairs, passing Ron and Ginny, who were running up. Just as he hit the bottom, Fred waved his wand and all the booby traps were activated. "Show time!" he said gleefully rubbing his hands together. 

"Everyone to their places!" Snape said. "I hope that Potter is on his way," he mumbled, taking his place in the chair facing the door. "Or we're all going to die." Snape snapped his fingers and all the lights went out. He could feel the heat of the locket and the loud hammering of his heart. 

Draco could hear his own breathing and he cursed himself or being a coward. He didn't want to die, he had so much to look forward to. He was finally happy for once and now he might loose it all. 

"Don't worry," Hermione said from beside him. "Good always conquers evil." She kissed his cheek. 

Draco wasn't so sure about that.


	24. 24

  
Author's notes: Who wins the battle? Who lives and who dies?  


* * *

Bella made her way swiftly through the trees. She was determined to show the Dark Lord that she was able to lead this mission. Stopping at the tree line, she motioned for the others to gather round her. "Surround the house and on my command, we enter." 

Everyone scattered and took up various positions. Most of them had to back up suddenly because a trench appeared the whole way around the house. It was filled with some sort of substance that looked like over cooked oatmeal. 

"What the hell is that?" Crabbe Sr. asked, putting his head too close to the stuff. It sprayed up and attached it's self to his face. He screamed as it slid over his forehead and entered his eyes and nose. 

"Hold still!" Peter said, trying to wipe it off. He watched in horror as the gelatinous concoction filled Crabbe's mouth and then started to harden. It quickly became solid like cement, and Crabbe fell over, scratching at his throat and flailing around. He struggled for only a minute and then was still. 

"Holy fuck!" Peter said. "Do not, under any circumstances, let any part of your body get near that trench!" he yelled to everyone. 

Bella nodded her head, waved her wand and a rope bridge appeared over the trench. "Everyone across! It's time!" 

Bella led the way, being careful not to rock the bridge to much. When she got to the door, she reached out her hand and grasped the doorknob. "Let me go!" the others heard her scream. 

Macnair pushed everyone out of the way and halted dead in his tracks when he reached Bella. "What can I do?" 

Bella turned her angry eyes towards him. "Get my hand loose from this damn handle you stupid fuck!" 

The doorknob had come to life and wrapped it's self around her hand, she put her foot up to brace herself and pulled with all her might, trying to get free. 

Macnair, who was laughing hysterically, touched his wand to the shiny brass liquid glove and it let go, returning to normal. He smirked at her. "Shall I?" he said, reaching to open the door. 

He pulled it and then gaped like a shocked monkey when he was confronted with another door. "I don't believe it!" he said, turning the next handle. "Another damn door!" His eyes goggled and he began to open doors as fast as lightening, laughing like a loon. 

Bella pulled her hair in frustration. "Back across the bridge, all of you!" She stomped after them, almost falling into the killer oatmeal. "You!" she pointed to Goyle. "Get some rocks! We're going to break the windows!" 

Alecto rolled her eyes. "Even if we do manage to break the glass, there is still the trench! How are we supposed to get to the windows?" 

Bella screamed in anger. "No wonder the Dark Lord is always being thwarted! He has a bunch of dim witted inbred retards working for him!" She whirled around and yelled to the tall blonde Death Eater on her right. "Dry up that trench or something!" 

He strode over and halfheartedly waved his wand. "Evanesco!" Nothing happened. 

Bella was about to kill someone. She muttered something about having to do everything herself, waved her wand and cast a freezing charm. "Now was that so difficult?" 

Goyle came back with the rocks and everyone took a few. The first stone hit the window and instead of hearing the sound of breaking glass, they heard a squelching noise. 

"Oh what now!" They all lit their wands and stood in amazed silence. The rock was stuck in the middle of the window. The glass had become jiggly like gelatin. 

Macnair threw another rock and they all watched as it stuck, just like the first. "No problem," he said. "Goyle? Go over there and eat your way through the window!" 

Goyle, who was dumber than brain damaged flamingo, actually started towards the window. 

"This is a waste of time!" Bella said through clenched teeth. She ran across the bridge, and blasted the door open. 

"Now why didn't she think of that before?" Alecto said to her brother, Amycus. 

"Because Azkaban rotted her mind and she clearly can no longer function in an intelligent capacity," Goyle said and walked away. 

"Oh Snapey!" Bella crooned. "Come out come out where ever you are"  
She took a step into the house, the lights came on and she was immediately sucked into the floor. Only her head and arms were sticking out and she screamed like a banshee. 

The other Death Eaters ran into the house. They looked down at Bella helplessly. All around them a strange noise was growing. It was faint at first, kind of like a low humming and then it became louder. The house lit up in colors of pink and violet. They started to flash and the noise became so loud that everyone covered their ears and fell to the ground. 

The lights and the noise stopped suddenly and the house went dark. The Death Eaters slowly and cautiously got to their feet. Peter lit his wand, grabbed Bella's hand and pulled her from the floor. It magically repaired it's self, ready for the next victim. 

A soft low voice came from the middle of the pitch black room. "Welcome to my nightmare!" it said. There was a clicking noise and a spot light came on, illuminating Snape. He sat in the chair, looking almost amused or maybe bored. 

"Snape!" Bella screeched. "You lying traitorous piece of dung!" 

"You never did know when to keep you fat mouth shut did you, Bellatrix?" 

Bella screamed as something streaked past her, punching her in the mouth. She spat out blood and broken teeth. She lunged towards Severus. 

"Uh uh!" Snape said in a sing song voice. 

The blur ran by her again, kicking her legs out from under her. She fell, smacking her head on the floor. "What the hell are you playing at Snape?" she asked, trying to stand up. 

"Just shut the fuck up, Bella, and listen to me. You came here to kill me, didn't you." 

"Y..." 

"It wasn't a question!" Snape said angrily. He composed himself before he continued. "You just thought I would sit here and let myself be killed. That you would find me vulnerable and alone." 

Bella looked questioningly at him. "Aren't you alone?" 

"Hardly!" Snape said and snapped his fingers, making all the lights in the house come on. The Death Eaters eyed one another uneasily as the members of the Order of the Phoenix strolled into view. "Shall we dance?" Snape said grinning. 

On the balcony, Ron and Ginny grabbed a handful of the stink bombs and pegged them at the Death Eater's feet. They screamed and ran around in panic as the bombs exploded, sending noxious smells into the air. 

"Get them!" Bella screamed. 

Amycus headed for the stairs intent on killing Ron and Ginny. As soon as his foot hit the top step, he was magically transported back to the bottom. He stood there confused for a second and then tried again. When it happened a second time, he swore up at their laughing faces, sent a hex hurling towards them and went to find someone else to kill. 

From their hiding place in the cellar, Draco and Hermione could hear people running, screams of pain and a lot of swearing. 

"We should go help them!" Draco said, heading for the stairs. 

"No!" Hermione said, pulling him back. "It's very important to the plan that you stay out of sight!" 

Draco glanced at the ceiling, sighed and sat back down on the floor. "I hate just sitting here not knowing what's happening!" 

"It'll all be over soon." 

There was a huge crash from upstairs and very close to the cellar door, a woman screamed. Draco and Hermione jumped to their feet clutching each other. 

"What if they manage to get down here?" Draco said. 

"I like to see them try!" 

Arthur ran into the kitchen, Alecto close at his heels. He skidded into the bathroom and slammed the door. The Death Eater tried to blow up the door, but the spell just bounced off, ricocheting around the room. 

Arthur laughed loudly, sending Alecto into a fit of rage. She glanced around the kitchen for something to break down the door. There on the other side of the room, she spotted a wooden chair. She was halfway across the floor when a drawer opened and ten sharp butcher knives floated into the air. 

Looking around, she noticed the door to the cellar and headed towards it. The knives clanged together and then took off after her. She screamed and ducked her head. The knives sliced her over and over, making the floor slick with blood. Blindly she felt for the door and thinking she had it, she pulled with all her might. What she had mistakenly pulled was the door on the cabinet containing all the pots and pans. It fell over on top of her with a mighty crash. 

Pinned underneath, she struggled to get free. The knives hovered in the air, waiting. The minute she managed to push the cabinet off, she was attacked by their shiny blades. Her screams rang through the house, making everyone stop in their tracks. 

Amycus ran into the kitchen and found his sister lying in a pool of blood, cut to ribbons. He started to go to her, but the enchanted knives turned towards him. He licked his lips, gave his poor dead sister another pitiful look and then hauled ass out of the room. 

Back in the livingroom, the scene was total chaos. Fred and George were locked in battle with some tall blond Death Eater who apparently couldn't hit the broad side of a barn with a spell. 

Ron and Ginny were now tossing small vials of Day Dream potion at the feet of unsuspecting Death Eaters who would then wander around, smiling stupidly and drooling on themselves. 

Kingsley and Aberforth were dueling with Bella and as Arthur ran back into the room, Aberforth was hit with a flash of green light and he fell over, dead. 

Bella laughed like an evil nymph and aimed another shot at Kingsley who blocked it and fired on back. Bella screamed and ducked behind the over turned sofa. Kingsley hit it with a powerful hex and the sofa flew into the air and landed on the tall blond Death Eater. 

"Good one, Shacklebolt!" George said, giving him a thumbs up. 

Kingsley winked, grinned and then was hit in the back by a spell from Bella. The grin slowly faded from his shocked face and he fell over. 

"NOOO!" Fred screamed and ran to him. 

"He's dead!" George said, feeling for a pulse. "There's nothing we can do." 

"Oh there's something we can do!" Fred smirked. "On the count of three. One. Two. Three!" 

The twins stood up and yelled at the same time. "THIS IS FOR SHACKLEBOLT!" Every member of the Order quickly cast a Bubble Head charm on themselves. 

George pulled out a small metal disk from his pocket and threw it up. Fred fired at it and suddenly the room was filled with tiny winged creatures sporting sharp little teeth. 

The Death Eaters screamed and ran blindly around, bouncing off furniture and walls. Macnair ran headfirst into Goyle, they both fell and immediately their faces were covered with the flesh eating butterflies. They gnawed at their eyes and lips, devouring the flesh from their faces just like a school of Piranha. 

Suddenly, there was a loud bang and Voldemort was standing in the middle of the room. "SILENCE!" 

Everyone stopped screaming and fighting, the killer bugs flew out the door and even the crickets stopped chirping. In the cellar, Draco knew it was time for his part in all this. He closed his eyes and concentrated. Snape lowered his wand and stepped forward. You could cut the tension in the room with a knife. "Voldemort." 

"You dare speak my name?!" Voldemort seethed. "I am going to take so much pleasure in cutting off your head, Snape! And after I do that, I'm going to take back my Horcrux that your traitorous friend stole from me!" 

"I think not," someone said from the corner of the room. 

"Malfoy?" Voldemort said, laughing. "You think you're strong enough to stop me?" 

"Yes." The Doppleganger replied, walking over to stand in front of Severus. 

Voldemort was highly amused. "Stand aside boy!" 

"Never." 

"Then I'll just have to kill you too!" Voldemort raised his wand and shouted. "Avada Kedavra!" The green light shot from his wand, went right through the 'fetch' and hit Severus Snape, killing him and destroying the locket Horcrux. 

The Doppleganger laughed in Voldemort's face and then vanished. 

"NOOOOO!" Voldemort screamed. "I'm going to kill you all for this!" he fired a shot at Mad Eye, who, not being a spring chicken anymore, was slow to react and was hit in the chest. He slid down the wall and fell over, face first. 

Voldemort raised his wand again and aimed it at Ginny, who was watching, terrified, from the balcony. Ron stepped in front of her bravely. 

"I suggest you lower your wand Voldemort!" Harry said from the doorway. 

Voldemort whirled around. "Potter! I thought the night couldn't get any better!" 

Harry and Regulus came into the house, both brandishing their wands and never taking their eyes off Voldemort. 

"Not only do I get to kill Snape, but I also get the pleasure of killing you AND the traitor, Black! It must be my lucky day!" 

"You're wrong, Voldemort. It's my lucky day!" Harry said and prepared to fight. 

"We'll see about that!" The Dark Lord hissed. He fired off a spell so fast that Harry was on the floor before he knew what was happening. "You never stood a chance, boy!" 

Regulus lunged forward to help Harry up and was immediately killed. Harry screamed as did Ginny. The whole Order wanted to rush to Harry's aid but knew that Harry had to do it himself. 

Voldmemort stepped over Harry and looked down at him. "And now, I will finally kill you!" He aimed his wand at Harry's heart and grinned. "I've waited so long!" 

Harry's mind for some reason was as clear as a bell. He heard a faint whisper in his ear that said, "The mirror, Harry. The mirror!" It was the voice of his Godfather, Sirius. The moment Voldemort cast the Avada Kedavra, Harry pulled the small mirror from his pocket and held it over his heart. 

The curse hit the mirror and rebounded, hitting Voldemort in the face. He stiffened and then fell, landing on top of Harry. Bella screamed and ran towards them, Fred tripped her and she went sprawling. The Doppleganger put his foot on her back and held her to the floor. 

Ron and Ginny ran down the stairs and helped everyone get Voldemort's body off of Harry. 

"It's over! It's really over!" Ginny said, kissing Harry all over his face. 

"Where are all the other Death Eaters?" Bill asked, looking around. 

"I guess they smelled defeat and ran away!" Arthur said. "Bella is the only one left." 

"Am I to late for the fight?" Lupin said from the doorway. He and Tonks were standing there, wearing huge grins. 

"Just a tad!" Bill said. 

After they tied Bella up and contacted the Ministry, they remembered that Draco and Hermione were still in the cellar. 

"Shouldn't someone go and get them? Tell them it over and that we won?" Harry said. 

Draco and Hermione heard the cellar door open and got to their feet. "Who's there?" Hermione asked, fearfully. 

"Tis I, Harry the Vanquisher!" 

Hermione squealed and ran to Harry. She embraced him and kissed his cheek. "We Won? He's dead?" 

Harry nodded his head and smiled. 

"I can't believe it!" Hermione was actually dancing a jig she was so happy. Draco and Harry watched her, both loving her for her childlike excitement. 

"Congratulations, Potter." Draco said, holding out his hand. 

"Couldn't have done it without you," Harry said, taking Draco's hand and shaking it. Impulsively, Harry pulled Draco into an embrace. "Thanks," he said slapping Draco on the back. 

"Anytime," Draco said, pulling away and looking at the floor uncomfortably. 

"We haven't got all day!" Fred yelled down the stairs. 

"Let's go," Draco said, kissing Hermione and leading her out of the dark cellar. 

Everyone stood on the rickety porch watching the sun come up. 

"I told you good always conquers evil!" Hermione said, looking up at Draco with a smirk. 

He bent over and kissed her softly. "Do you always have to be right?" 

Hermione smiled at him. "If I'm going to be your wife, then you better get used to me always being right!" 

"YOUR WIFE!?" everyone shouted. 

TO BE CONTINUED...


	25. 25

  
Author's notes: The end  


* * *

"I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride!" 

Draco smirked, dipped Hermione and kissed her with all the passion he had. All the women sighed because it was so romantic and all the men looked uncomfortably at the sand under their feet. 

Draco released her captive lips and led his blushing bride over to the guests, who embraced her lovingly. 

"It was a beautiful ceremony, Draco," Ginny said, shaking his hand. "And a gorgeous day to have it!" 

"Yes, everything went better than expected. All the sand is a trifle unpleasant, but other than that..." Draco said with a huge smile. "It was perfect!" He grabbed Hermione's hand and pulled her over. "Just like you," he said "Perfect nose." He kissed the end of her nose. "Perfect eyes." He softly kissed her eyes. "Perfect lips." He gently brushed his lips over hers. "Perfect little ass." He said with a smirk and swatted her on the bum. 

Hermione blushed. "I'll get you for that!" she said in his ear. 

"I'm sure you will!" he said and winked. 

They made their way a little further down the beach were the reception was to be held. Molly had been in charge of the decorations and she did an extraordinary job. All of the round tables were draped with white lace and the centerpieces were clear crystal vases containing lilies and red roses. The place settings were china that had been in the Malfoy family for hundreds of years. Thousands of candles illuminated the party as the sun went down. 

"Where's Harry gone off to?" Draco asked, sipping his champagne. 

Hermione searched the crowd with her eyes. "He's over there," she said, pointing down the beach. 

"He hasn't been himself lately, has he?" Draco asked, concerned. "Maybe I should go and talk to him?" 

Hermione smiled and kissed his cheek. "He is your best friend. If anyone can help him, you can." 

Draco smiled back at her , drained his glass and stood up. "Perhaps he could use a drink," he said and grabbed a bottle. 

Harry was sitting alone, listening to the waves crash. The sound was soothing and relaxing. The past two years had gone by very fast... too fast. At first everything was great, Voldemort was finally dead, he had Ginny, a good job and friends who cared about him. 

Lately, he had began to have nightmares. He would sometimes wake up in the night, covered in sweat and screaming. It was always the same dream. It started with the sound of a baby crying and then he would find himself walking towards a brass cradle. His heart would begin to flutter and a sense of forboding would rush through him. His mind would yell at him to stop and go back, but his feet just kept moving. 

When he finally reached the cradle, he would slowly pull back the small fluffy blue blanket, and there his dream self would scream and scream and scream. Harry would wake up, the face of that baby burned into his retinas. 

That baby... What did it mean? 

"You're such a party pooper, Potter!" Draco said, plopping down beside Harry and laughing. "Drink?" 

Harry took the bottle and drank half of it down. 

"Damn! Save some for me, you hog!" Draco said, snatching the bottle back. 

Harry looked over at the dancing guests. "Can I ask you something?" 

Draco put the bottle down. "Sure." 

"Doesn't it seem odd to you that it's only been two years since Voldemort died and everyone seems to have forgotten it already?" 

Draco frowned and leaned back in the sand. "I don't think they've forgotten, they choose to pretend it never happened. It's the only way they can go on." 

"I'll never forget." 

"Nor will I, and I'll never let my children forget it either," Draco said. He looked over at Harry who was drawing shapes in the sand. "A wise Chinese historian, Sima Qian once said, 'By not forgetting past events, we become masters of future events.' We should heed his advice." 

Harry said nothing, but looked grim. 

"Come on Potter, what's really bothering you?" 

"I think that some where, some time soon, a new Dark Lord is going to be born." 

Draco's jaw dropped. "How could you possibly know that?" 

Harry told him about the dream. "I seems to have almost a prophetic feel to it, like it's really going to happen!" 

Draco tried to control his laughter, after all, he didn't want to make Harry feel like a nutter. "It's just a dream, Potter, nothing more! Besides, if this Dark Lord Baby is just now being born, you'll be an old man by the time it's prepared to take over the world! It'll be someone else's battle, not yours!" 

Harry sighed. Maybe you're right. Maybe it's just a dream and nothing more." 

"Of course I'm right! Now come back to the party and dance with Ginny before she runs off with my rich cousin Roland!" 

10 months later... 

"You just have to see him Harry! He's the most darling baby!" Hermione said, leading Harry up the stairs to the nursery. 

"He looks just like me, handsome and blonde!" Draco said, smiling like a proud daddy. 

Harry could hear the baby crying and a strange feeling of deja vu flooded his senses. He reached his hand out and opened the nursery door. He stepped in the room, his heart threatening to jump right out of his chest. 

Hermione lit the lamp and urged him to go have a peek at their new bundle of joy. 

Harry's feet felt like they were cement blocks as he made his way over to the familiar brass cradle. He shut his eyes, took a deep breath and looked in. The baby was wailing and had kicked the fuzzy blue blanket close to it's head. Harry reached in with lead fingers and pulled back the blanket... 

THE END


End file.
